<P> The Indian Financial System Code (IFS Code or IFSC) is an alphanumeric code that facilitates electronic funds transfer in India . A code uniquely identifies each bank branch participating in the two main Payment and settlement systems in India: the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) systems . </P> <P> The IFSC is an 11 - character code with the first four alphabetic characters representing the bank name, and the last six characters (usually numeric, but can be alphabetic) representing the branch . The fifth character is 0 (zero) and reserved for future use . Bank IFS Code is used by the NEFT & RTGS systems to route the messages to the destination banks / branches . The format of the IFS Code is shown below . </P>

What is meant by ifsc code in banking