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Bank payment rules

Acme Citibank India Payments (H2H)

This describes validations / allowed data formats for Acme payments going through Citibank India. These will be validated by Acme and further validated by the bank. These rules may be stricter than what the bank requires.

Channel: H2H

  • Batch payments, sent to Citibank as host-to-host (H2H) files. Create them with Create a Batch Payment.
  • Single payments are not supported.

Supported types: IN_RTGS, IN_ACH, IN_IBFT, TT, BKTR.

Common Definitions

  • SWIFT Character Set:

    • The 26 uppercase Latin letters A-Z
    • The 26 lowercase Latin letters a-z
    • The 10 digits 0-9
    • Forward slash /
    • Hyphen -
    • Question mark ?
    • Colon :
    • Left and right parentheses ( )
    • Full stop .
    • Comma ,
    • Single quote '
    • Plus sign +
    • Space

  • IFSC:

    • The 11 character Indian Financial System Code of the receiver's bank branch, in uppercase.
    • 4 letters, then 0, then 6 letters or digits. For example HDFC0001234.

  • BIC:

    • 8 or 11 character Bank Identifier Code in uppercase, for example HDFCINBBXXX.

  • Citi restrictions:

    • For SWIFT character set: do not start a field with any of the following characters: /, -, :

General notes

  • A batch holds up to 1,000 payments.
  • paymentDate must not be in the past, in India time (IST). It can be at most 90 days ahead.
  • amount is in minor units. For example, 150000 is INR 1,500.00. See Minor units format.
  • The maximum amount per payment is 999,999,999 minor units. For INR, that is INR 9,999,999.99.

ISO 20022 Migration

Citi address requirements

  • Citi is moving to the ISO 20022 (CBPR+) address format. If a receiver address is provided, it must carry a town name and a country.
  • In India, Citi applies this to TT.
  • Citi rejects a TT payment whose address is missing address.city or address.country. This becomes mandatory in November 2026.
  • Acme already enforces this, and applies the same rule to IN_RTGS:
    • TT: address.city and address.country are always mandatory.
    • IN_RTGS: the address is optional. If you provide it, address.city and address.country are mandatory, and address.country must be IN.
  • Acme sends postalCode, city, state and country as structured fields, and line1 and line2 as address lines.

Payment Customer Reference

  • Use payments[N].customerReference as the unique identifier of your payments.
  • If customerReference is not provided, Acme generates a 13 character unique alphanumeric reference.
  • The customerReference is sent to the bank as the end-to-end ID of the payment.

IN_RTGS

Important

  • Currency must be INR only.
  • The minimum amount is INR 200,000.00 per payment.
  • Send the receiver's IFSC in receiver.localRoutingIdentifier. Do not send receiver.bank.
  • Do not send bankChargeBearer or purposeOfPayment.
  • instructionForSenderBank: Citi accepts only /CONFIDENTIAL/.
  • If you provide receiver.address, address.city and address.country are mandatory, and address.country must be IN. See ISO 20022 Migration.
fieldpattern / charsetmax lengthmandatory/optional
paymentDateYYYY-MM-DDM
payments[N].customerReferenceSWIFT (uppercase only)15O
payments[N].paymentDetailsSWIFT70O
payments[N].instructionForSenderBankSWIFT35O
payments[N].paymentAdviceEmails[N]Valid email address
Example: ["finance@company.com"]		50 per email (max 1 email)O
payments[N].receiver.nameSWIFT70M
payments[N].receiver.bankAccountNumberAlphanumeric34M
payments[N].receiver.localRoutingIdentifierIFSC11M
payments[N].receiver.address.line1SWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.line2SWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.citySWIFT35Conditional: M if address is provided (ISO 20022)
payments[N].receiver.address.stateSWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.postalCodeSWIFT16O
payments[N].receiver.address.countryIN2Conditional: M if address is provided (ISO 20022)

Example Request:

{
  "type": "IN_RTGS",
  "paymentDate": "2026-11-16",
  "senderAccountId": "intacc_0H3BQNTQGBW2W",
  "currency": "INR",
  "payments": [
    {
      "amount": 50000000,
      "customerReference": "INV2026001",
      "paymentDetails": "Payment for invoice 2026001",
      "receiver": {
        "name": "Example Traders Private Limited",
        "bankAccountNumber": "50100123456789",
        "localRoutingIdentifier": "HDFC0001234",
        "address": {
          "line1": "1 MG Road",
          "city": "Bengaluru",
          "country": "IN"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

IN_ACH

Important

  • Currency must be INR only.
  • Send the receiver's IFSC in receiver.localRoutingIdentifier. Do not send receiver.bank.
  • Do not send bankChargeBearer or purposeOfPayment.
fieldpattern / charsetmax lengthmandatory/optional
paymentDateYYYY-MM-DDM
payments[N].customerReferenceSWIFT (uppercase only)15O
payments[N].paymentDetailsSWIFT70O
payments[N].instructionForSenderBankSWIFT35O
payments[N].paymentAdviceEmails[N]Valid email address
Example: ["finance@company.com"]		50 per email (max 1 email)O
payments[N].receiver.nameSWIFT70M
payments[N].receiver.bankAccountNumberAlphanumeric34M
payments[N].receiver.localRoutingIdentifierIFSC11M
payments[N].receiver.address.line1SWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.line2SWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.citySWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.stateSWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.postalCodeSWIFT16O
payments[N].receiver.address.countryIN2O

Example Request:

{
  "type": "IN_ACH",
  "paymentDate": "2026-11-16",
  "senderAccountId": "intacc_0H3BQNTQGBW2W",
  "currency": "INR",
  "payments": [
    {
      "amount": 2500000,
      "customerReference": "INV2026002",
      "paymentDetails": "Payment for invoice 2026002",
      "receiver": {
        "name": "Example Traders Private Limited",
        "bankAccountNumber": "50100123456789",
        "localRoutingIdentifier": "HDFC0001234"
      }
    }
  ]
}

IN_IBFT

Important

  • Instant payment through IMPS.
  • Currency must be INR only.
  • Send the receiver's IFSC in receiver.localRoutingIdentifier. Do not send receiver.bank.
  • Do not send bankChargeBearer or purposeOfPayment.
fieldpattern / charsetmax lengthmandatory/optional
paymentDateYYYY-MM-DDM
payments[N].customerReferenceSWIFT (uppercase only)15O
payments[N].paymentDetailsSWIFT70O
payments[N].instructionForSenderBankSWIFT35O
payments[N].paymentAdviceEmails[N]Valid email address
Example: ["finance@company.com"]		50 per email (max 1 email)O
payments[N].receiver.nameSWIFT70M
payments[N].receiver.bankAccountNumberAlphanumeric34M
payments[N].receiver.localRoutingIdentifierIFSC11M
payments[N].receiver.address.line1SWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.line2SWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.citySWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.stateSWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.postalCodeSWIFT16O
payments[N].receiver.address.countryIN2O

Example Request:

{
  "type": "IN_IBFT",
  "paymentDate": "2026-11-16",
  "senderAccountId": "intacc_0H3BQNTQGBW2W",
  "currency": "INR",
  "payments": [
    {
      "amount": 1000000,
      "customerReference": "INV2026003",
      "paymentDetails": "Payment for invoice 2026003",
      "receiver": {
        "name": "Example Traders Private Limited",
        "bankAccountNumber": "50100123456789",
        "localRoutingIdentifier": "HDFC0001234"
      }
    }
  ]
}

TT

Important

  • Currency can be any valid ISO 4217 currency code.
  • purposeOfPayment and purposeCode are both mandatory.
  • purposeCode is S followed by 4 digits. Use a code from Citibank India Purpose Codes.
  • Acme sends purposeOfPayment as line 1 and purposeCode as line 2 of the remittance information, then paymentDetails.
  • instructionForSenderBank: Citi accepts only /CONFIDENTIAL/.
  • receiver.address.city and receiver.address.country are always mandatory. See ISO 20022 Migration.
fieldpattern / charsetmax lengthmandatory/optional
paymentDateYYYY-MM-DDM
payments[N].customerReferenceSWIFT (uppercase only)15O
payments[N].paymentDetailsSWIFT70O
payments[N].purposeOfPaymentSWIFT35M
payments[N].purposeCodeS followed by 4 digits
See purpose codes		5M
payments[N].instructionForSenderBankSWIFT35O
payments[N].paymentAdviceEmails[N]Valid email address
Example: ["finance@company.com"]		50 per email (max 1 email)O
payments[N].receiver.nameSWIFT35M
payments[N].receiver.bankBIC11M
payments[N].receiver.intermediaryBankBIC11O
payments[N].receiver.bankAccountNumberAlphanumeric34M
payments[N].receiver.address.line1SWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.line2SWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.citySWIFT35M (ISO 20022)
payments[N].receiver.address.stateSWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.postalCodeSWIFT16O
payments[N].receiver.address.countryISO 3166-1 alpha-22M (ISO 20022)

Example Request:

{
  "type": "TT",
  "paymentDate": "2026-11-16",
  "senderAccountId": "intacc_0H3BQNTQGBW2W",
  "currency": "USD",
  "payments": [
    {
      "amount": 2500000,
      "customerReference": "INV2026004",
      "paymentDetails": "Invoice 2026004",
      "purposeOfPayment": "Consulting services",
      "purposeCode": "S1006",
      "receiver": {
        "name": "Example Supplies Pte Ltd",
        "bank": "DBSSSGSGXXX",
        "bankAccountNumber": "0123456789",
        "address": {
          "line1": "1 Example Road",
          "city": "Singapore",
          "postalCode": "123456",
          "country": "SG"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

BKTR

Important

  • Book transfer to another Citibank India account. Do not send receiver.bank.
  • Send the receiver's Citibank IFSC in receiver.localRoutingIdentifier.
  • Citi processes a BKTR payment with an IFSC that does not start with CITI as RTGS, not as a book transfer.
  • Currency can be any valid ISO 4217 currency code.
  • receiver.bankAccountNumber is up to 30 characters.
  • Do not send bankChargeBearer or purposeOfPayment.
fieldpattern / charsetmax lengthmandatory/optional
paymentDateYYYY-MM-DDM
payments[N].customerReferenceSWIFT (uppercase only)15O
payments[N].paymentDetailsSWIFT70O
payments[N].paymentAdviceEmails[N]Valid email address
Example: ["finance@company.com"]		50 per email (max 1 email)O
payments[N].receiver.nameSWIFT70M
payments[N].receiver.bankAccountNumberAlphanumeric30M
payments[N].receiver.localRoutingIdentifierIFSC11M
payments[N].receiver.address.line1SWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.line2SWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.citySWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.stateSWIFT35O
payments[N].receiver.address.postalCodeSWIFT16O
payments[N].receiver.address.countryIN2O

Example Request:

{
  "type": "BKTR",
  "paymentDate": "2026-11-16",
  "senderAccountId": "intacc_0H3BQNTQGBW2W",
  "currency": "INR",
  "payments": [
    {
      "amount": 2500000,
      "customerReference": "INV2026005",
      "paymentDetails": "Payment for invoice 2026005",
      "receiver": {
        "name": "Example Traders Private Limited",
        "bankAccountNumber": "0123456789",
        "localRoutingIdentifier": "CITI0100000"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Bank references

Sent asbankReferencebankReferencesAvailable from
A fileAcctSvcrRef, else ClrSysRefAcctSvcrRef, ClrSysRef, StsId, as Citi sends themCiti's status report on the payment

On your Citi statement, the line shows a different Citi reference. Find the payment by your customerReference.

What the names mean:

  • AcctSvcrRef: Citi's own reference for the transaction.
  • ClrSysRef: the clearing system's reference.
  • StsId: the id of Citi's status entry.

A rejected payment keeps the references from the report that rejected it.

A completed payment returns:

{
  "bankReference": "01720322200000001",
  "bankReferences": {
    "AcctSvcrRef": "01720322200000001"
  }
}

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Common DefinitionsGeneral notesISO 20022 MigrationPayment Customer ReferenceIN_RTGSIN_ACHIN_IBFTTTBKTRBank references