Bank Account Number

Your bank account number is the primary identifier for the bank account. This is unique in nature and no two banks or account holders can have the same account number. Banks use different starting codes for their branches for easy segregation. In India, bank account numbers usually contain 11 to 16 digits. The public sector banks follow a pattern of 11 digits which 5 + 6 (account number). SBI offers account numbers in its welcome kit starting from 2. However, the online SBI portal displays all account numbers starting with 6 zeros. This makes the account number 17 digits long which is the highest in the existing banking system. A possible reason for that is the future branch codes.

Private sector banks such as ICICI and HDFC follow a different pattern. ICICI Bank has 12-digit account numbers whereas HDFC Bank has 14-digit account numbers. The series of both the banks starts from 0.

Indian financial system code is or IFS code designed for facilitating electronic fund transfers in the country. It participates in two major fund transfer modes RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) and NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer). This is an 11-digit alphanumeric code that consists of two major components, bank code, and branch code. The first 4 digits are the bank code and the last 6 digits are the branch code followed by a zero. IFS code is printed on the chequebook and on the first page of the passbook of every customer. Moreover, customers can also find out the IFS codes of any bank in the country on the website of RBI.

This is a relatively new concept that is still to be implemented in the country. RBI has urged banks to start preparing for account number portability as this is considered as another step towards modernized banking. However, banks have different challenges in front of them. In a country having 1,35,946 bank branches, 388 million savings bank accounts, 28.3 million current accounts, and 1,02,894 RBI complaints, it is not an overnight task. It’s a humongous project which needs proper preparation and efficient processes.

This is a new advancement in the Indian banking industry where you can choose your account number. Many private sector banks are providing this facility in which you can set an important date of your life as your savings account number.

The facility is currently being offered by ICICI Bank, DCB Bank, Induslnd Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Under this facility, the customers have the choice to set their birthday or any other important date as their account number. Banks do not charge any additional fee for this service. All the norms and eligibility criteria is similar to the regular savings account.

The account number is a common identification number these days and most people do not hesitate in giving their account number to others. However, despite not being a security number or an authentication number, it is of utmost importance to keep your bank account number safe. Here are a few reasons explaining the importance of your bank account number.

• Personal Identity Theft: This is a common phenomenon these days. Unethical hackers and identity thieves use people’s bank account numbers for identity theft and other possible crimes. However, they cannot withdraw funds from your bank account without your authentication but your bank account surely comes under their radar. One tiny mistake from your side and your bank account will be hacked which will lead to severe financial loss.
• Frauds: This is the biggest reason for not giving your bank account number to just about anyone. Banks clearly suggest not sharing your bank account details unless you are expecting a fund transfer. Even in the case of fund transfer, make sure that the person crediting your bank account is trustworthy.
• Do Not Email Your Account Number: Mailing your bank account number to individuals can also be dangerous. This includes debit and credit card numbers as well. This is because those emails can be read by anyone having access to that specific computer. In addition, emailing your bank account number to people is not the only threat of making it public. It also presents the threat of modification and misrepresentation. Unethical hackers can modify the account number even before it reaches the recipient. In such situations, the person transferring money to your account will transfer money into a wrong bank account and both the parties will suffer losses.

People often ignore this factor and consider the security of email from the point of view of privacy only. They forget that the integrity of email can be compromised as well. Moreover, even if you send your bank account number to anyone via email, you should call them and ask to read out the sent information. Give a green signal only when you are satisfied with the received information.

You can also try and use some other channels such as encrypted mails, encrypted zip files and password protected emails. Such emails are protected with passwords that you have already shared with the person. On the other hand, encrypted zip files are also password protected and it is extremely hard to crack those. In such situations, it becomes hard for criminals to crack the mail and extract the information. People should also be mindful of the email service they are using. Using trusted service providers such as Google protect their user information and cannot use it in any possible way due to legal reasons.

If you keep the above safeguards in mind, your bank account will remain safe and you will not face any financial loss due to fraud or malicious action by any other person.