Overview
Manual bank book entry and Bank Reconciliation Statement (BRS) preparation is one of the most tedious, repetitive, and error-prone tasks performed by accountants in every Indian business — typically consuming 4 to 8 hours per bank account every single month. Accountants download the bank statement PDF or Excel file from the net banking portal, then manually punch each debit and credit entry one-by-one into Tally as Payment (F5) or Receipt (F6) vouchers, cross-referencing cheque numbers, reference IDs and transaction amounts against the customer or supplier ledger. Even a single typo — a missing zero, a swapped digit, or a wrong ledger head — leads to unreconciled differences that take hours of detective work to resolve at month-end. TallyPrime eliminates this entire manual workflow with its native Bank Statement Import feature, which supports over 100+ Indian banks including all major players: State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BOB), Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, Union Bank, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank, and many more. You can download your statement directly from your bank's net banking portal in Excel, CSV, or the international SWIFT MT940 format, then import it directly into TallyPrime's Banking module. TallyPrime automatically parses the statement rows, creates the appropriate Payment or Receipt vouchers with correct contra entries to your cash or bank ledger, and most importantly — runs an intelligent auto-reconciliation algorithm that matches each imported bank transaction against the vouchers already existing in your Tally books, identifying exactly which entries are already recorded, which are missing and need to be created, and which have amount mismatches or timing differences. This guide from Sanyam Consultants (Tally Certified 3-Star Partner in Hisar) walks you through the complete end-to-end process with screenshots, column mapping instructions, BRS workflow, expert tips and frequently asked questions.
Key Benefits
90% Reduction in Manual Entry Time
What used to take 6+ hours per bank account per month now completes in under 10 minutes with bulk Excel import.
Eliminate Data Entry Typos
Every amount, date and reference number comes directly from the bank's official export — zero risk of manual punching errors.
Auto Bank Reconciliation (BRS)
Tally auto-matches imported statement lines with existing Tally vouchers by amount, date, and cheque/reference number combinations.
All Major Banks & Formats
Supports SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis, Kotak, PNB, BOB, Yes Bank, IndusInd + Excel, CSV and MT940 SWIFT formats.
Step-by-Step Guide
Download Bank Statement from Net Banking Portal
Log in to your bank's official net banking website or mobile app. Navigate to the Account Statement or Download Statement section. Select the desired bank account and choose a statement date range. For optimal reconciliation performance, it is recommended to select exactly one calendar month at a time (e.g., 01-08-2026 to 31-08-2026). In the format dropdown, choose Excel (.xlsx) or CSV (.csv) format — avoid PDF format as TallyPrime cannot directly import PDFs. Some banks may also offer a dedicated "Tally Format" or "MT940" export option which provides the highest auto-detection rate. Click Download and save the file to a known local folder on your computer (e.g., Documents\Bank Statements) for easy access in the next steps.
Open TallyPrime → Banking → Bank Reconciliation
Open your company in TallyPrime. From the Gateway of Tally, navigate to Banking → Bank Reconciliation. You will see a list of all bank ledgers created in your company (e.g., HDFC Bank Current A/c, SBI Savings A/c, Axis Bank CC A/c). Select the specific bank ledger that corresponds to the statement you downloaded in Step 1. You can also reach this screen by pressing Alt+G (Go To), typing "Bank Reconciliation" and selecting the appropriate bank ledger from the search results. TallyPrime will display the Bank Reconciliation screen showing the existing unreconciled vouchers for that bank along with the Closing Balance as per Tally books.
Click "Import Bank Statement" or Press Alt+I
While on the Bank Reconciliation screen for your selected bank ledger, look for the "Import Bank Statement" button in the top-right action bar or press the dedicated keyboard shortcut Alt+I. A pop-up menu will appear with two import options: "Import from Excel/CSV" and "Import from MT940". Select "Import from Excel/CSV" unless you specifically downloaded the SWIFT MT940 format from your bank. This will open the standard Windows File Explorer browse dialog.
Select Excel File & Configure Column Mapping
Browse to the folder where you saved the downloaded bank statement file in Step 1. Select the Excel (.xlsx) or CSV (.csv) file and click Open. For most major banks (SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis, Kotak, PNB), TallyPrime has pre-built format templates and will automatically detect the correct column mapping — the columns for Transaction Date, Narration / Description, Withdrawal (Debit), Deposit (Credit), and Cheque Number / Reference No. will be auto-mapped and a preview will appear on screen. If your particular bank's custom format is not auto-detected (e.g., a regional co-operative bank), you can manually map each column using the dropdown selectors in the Column Mapping table: simply click the dropdown next to each required Tally field and select the corresponding Excel column letter or header name from your statement. Use the live preview rows at the bottom to verify that the data is being read correctly.
Save Column Mapping as a Reusable Template
If you had to manually configure the column mapping in Step 4 (or even if Tally auto-detected it), click the "Save as Template" button in the column mapping screen before proceeding with the import. Give your template a descriptive, bank-specific name such as "SBI Current Account Statement Format" or "HDFC Bank July 2026 Template". Saving the mapping as a template is the single biggest time-saving step: next month when you download the same format statement from the same bank, you can simply select this saved template from the "Use Existing Template" dropdown instead of re-mapping every single column all over again. You can create unlimited templates — one per bank account, one per statement format, or one per format variation. Once selected, verify the preview once more and click the Import button.
Review Auto-Matched vs Un-Reconciled Entries
After the import completes successfully, TallyPrime returns to the Bank Reconciliation (BRS) screen with the imported statement rows now loaded and visible. The entries are visually colour-coded: entries that TallyPrime automatically reconciled (matched with existing Payment/Receipt vouchers already present in Tally) are marked in green with a checkmark or "Auto Reconciled" indicator — these require no further action from you. Entries shown in standard (black or default) text are unreconciled: they exist in the bank statement but Tally could not find a corresponding matching voucher in your books. The screen also clearly displays three key summary numbers: Balance as per Bank Statement (from imported file), Balance as per Tally Books (your ledger balance), and the Difference amount. The number of auto-matched rows depends on how many vouchers were already entered in Tally before the import.
Manually Match Remaining Entries or Create Vouchers On-the-Fly
For each remaining unreconciled statement line, you have two options directly from the BRS screen. Option A: Manual Match — select the bank statement line, then press the "Match Voucher" button. TallyPrime will display a filtered list of all existing vouchers (Payment, Receipt, Contra, Journal) for that bank account within a wide date range, sorted by amount. Select the corresponding voucher that matches the bank transaction amount and date, then press Enter — the entry is now reconciled. Option B: Create New Voucher On-the-Fly — if no matching voucher exists in Tally (e.g., a bank charge, interest credit, or a payment you forgot to record), press Alt+C (Create Voucher) directly from the BRS screen. A mini Payment or Receipt voucher creation form opens, pre-filled with the transaction date and amount from the selected bank statement line. Simply select the correct expense/income ledger (e.g., Bank Charges A/c, Interest Received A/c, or the appropriate Customer/Supplier ledger), add a narration if required, and save. TallyPrime automatically posts the voucher and immediately reconciles it against the selected bank statement line — you never have to leave the BRS screen.
Pro Tips
Pro Tips from Tally BRS Experts at Sanyam Consultants
- Download in Tally-Compatible Format First: When exporting from HDFC, ICICI, Axis, SBI or Kotak net banking portals, always check if the bank offers a dedicated "Tally" format option in the export format dropdown. Using the bank's native Tally export format guarantees 100% column auto-detection and zero manual mapping required.
- Reconcile One Month at a Time, Oldest First: Always start your BRS work from the oldest unreconciled month (not the current month) and move forward chronologically. Reconciling in order ensures that uncleared cheque timing differences are correctly picked up by the auto-match engine and avoids missing backdated entries that span multiple statement periods.
- Use "Suggest Reconciliation" with Tolerance Matching: TallyPrime's BRS screen includes a "Suggest Reconciliation" button that runs an enhanced fuzzy matching algorithm. Configure the amount tolerance to ±5% or ±₹50 (whichever is lower for your business) and enable date window of ±7 days — this automatically catches minor mismatches (rounding differences, timing lags, cheque part-payments) that the strict exact-match auto-reconciliation skips.
- Enable Connected Banking for Fully Automated Daily Imports: For SBI, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank, enable TallyPrime's built-in Connected Banking feature (under Banking → Connected Banking). Once linked with your net banking login, TallyPrime automatically pulls your bank statement on a daily basis — no manual Excel downloads, no import wizard, no column mapping. Statements arrive pre-matched and ready for one-click reconciliation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not all banks have pre-built templates in TallyPrime, especially regional rural banks (RRBs), co-operative banks and newer payments banks. In such cases, use the Custom Column Mapping option in the import wizard: manually assign each Tally field (Date, Narration, Withdrawal, Deposit, Cheque/Ref No) to the corresponding Excel column by selecting from the dropdown. Once mapped, click "Save as Template" with a memorable name — you will never have to do the manual mapping again for that bank. For the highest format compatibility across any bank worldwide, download your statement in the international MT940 SWIFT format if your bank offers it. MT940 is a globally standardized banking message format that TallyPrime imports with 100% accuracy, zero column mapping required, and works even for non-Indian or foreign currency bank accounts.
Yes, absolutely. The exact same Banking module workflow in TallyPrime works for credit card ledgers as well. Simply create your credit card account as a Bank Ledger (not a Liability ledger — set the "Under" group to Bank Accounts in the ledger master) for HDFC Credit Card, SBI Card, ICICI Coral Card, Axis Buzz Credit Card, etc. When you download your monthly credit card statement as Excel/CSV from the credit card provider's portal or mobile app, navigate to Gateway of Tally → Banking → Bank Reconciliation and select the credit card ledger instead of a regular current/savings bank account. From that point onwards the import, column mapping, template saving, auto-reconciliation, and manual voucher creation flow is completely identical to a regular bank account. Tally will treat credit card purchases as "Withdrawals" (just like bank debits) and credit card payments from your bank account as "Deposits" (just like bank credits) during the reconciliation matching process.
TallyPrime has a built-in duplicate detection mechanism during bank statement import that prevents the creation of duplicate vouchers in most normal scenarios. The system checks each incoming bank statement line against a unique composite key: the combination of Cheque/Reference Number + Transaction Date + Exact Amount. If an already-imported statement line with the identical three-field combination is re-imported, TallyPrime automatically skips that row and reports it under the "Skipped (Duplicate)" count in the import summary dialog — no duplicate voucher is posted. However, for rows that lack a cheque/reference number (e.g., UPI transfers, IMPS, NEFT credits that have long alphanumeric IDs that your bank may truncate differently across exports), Tally's duplicate detection may not catch 100% of re-imports. Therefore, the golden rule is: always create a full company backup (Ctrl+K → Backup) before performing any bank statement import. If you accidentally import the same file twice, simply restore the backup taken just before the import and you are back to a clean state in seconds.