IFSC codes and MICR codes

IFSC stands for Indian Financial System Code. 

It is a unique code given for all the bank branches in India. It is 11 characters in length. First four characters stands for the bank name followed by seven characters represent the branch number of the bank.

It is most widely used for RTGS(Real Time Gross Settlement) and NEFT(National Electronic Funds Transfer) transactions. 

MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition

It is most widely used by the banking industry to process and clearances of the checks and other documents.

There are two types of representation in MICR codes. One is by E-13B format and the other is by CMC-7 format.


CMC-7 format representation is used by all Indian banks. It contains 15 characters, first 10 are numeric and the rest 5 are with special characters. You will see this on bottom part of the checks. 

E-13B format representation is used in other countries. It contains 14 characters.