Overview
Connected Banking is Tally Solutions' official partnership programme with India's four largest and most trusted commercial banks — State Bank of India (SBI), Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and ICICI Bank — that enables a Direct Corporate Integration (DCI) API connection between your business bank current account and TallyPrime desktop software. This end-to-end integration eliminates the two biggest pain points that every Indian accountant and business owner deals with on a daily basis: manually downloading bank statements in Excel or CSV format from net banking portals and then importing them into Tally for reconciliation, and repeatedly logging into separate net banking dashboards to process vendor payments while keeping a parallel manual record in Tally vouchers. With Connected Banking configured, you can make NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, and even UPI payments to vendors directly from within a Tally Payment Voucher (F5) itself, with a secure Maker-Checker authorization workflow backed by OTP or MPIN authentication. All your debit and credit transactions — including bank charges, interest postings, GST auto-debits, and salary uploads — are automatically pulled into your Tally company every 30 minutes via secure bank API, meaning the Bank Book inside Tally always reflects your actual real-world bank balance without any manual intervention. The four officially supported banking portals are: SBI Yono Business / Corporate Internet Banking (CINB), Axis Bank Corporate Internet Banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank's Kotak fyn corporate portal, and ICICI Bank Corporate Internet Banking. Sanyam Consultants in Hisar has already helped over 120 businesses across Haryana, Delhi NCR, and Punjab successfully activate Connected Banking for one or more of these banks, cutting their monthly reconciliation time from 2–3 days to under 30 minutes and virtually eliminating manual payment entry errors.
Key Benefits
Auto-Sync Bank Feeds in Real-Time
No more downloading Excel/CSV files from net banking and manually importing into Tally. Every transaction — credits, debits, bank charges, interest — arrives automatically every 30 minutes directly into the Banking module.
Make NEFT/RTGS/IMPS/UPI Payments Inside Tally
Process vendor payments, employee salary uploads, GST challans, and advance payments directly from Payment Voucher (F5). Supports NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, and UPI — no need to open a separate net banking tab.
Maker-Checker Authorization (4-Eyes Principle)
Enforce strong internal financial control: the accountant or data operator (Maker) enters and saves the payment voucher, but only the authorised director or partner (Checker) can approve and release the fund — both with individual Tally MPINs.
Real-Time Current Account Balance
Check your live, up-to-the-second bank balance directly inside Cash/Bank Book (Gateway of Tally → Banking → Bank Balance). No more last-minute surprises before issuing a post-dated cheque.
Step-by-Step Guide
Check Prerequisites Before Starting
Before you begin the Connected Banking registration inside TallyPrime, ensure you have all three prerequisites in place: (a) an active Corporate Internet Banking login for the desired bank — SBI Yono Business / CINB, Axis Corporate, Kotak fyn, or ICICI Corporate — with transaction rights enabled; (b) a TallyPrime Gold or Silver license with an active, non-expired TSS (Tally Software Services) subscription, since Connected Banking uses Tally cloud servers as secure middleware; and (c) a duly signed, stamped Tally–Bank Integration application form submitted in-person to your home bank branch along with a cancelled cheque and board resolution (for companies). The bank will verify and approve the request on their side before the API link can be activated.
Login to Tally & Navigate to Connected Banking
Open TallyPrime and load your company. Press Ctrl+K (Login as Tally User) and authenticate using the Tally Solutions account (mobile number or email ID) that is linked to your licensed TallyPrime serial number. A green tick and your name/email should appear under the User Profile icon once logged in. Then navigate to Gateway of Tally → Banking → Connected Banking. A panel opens showing the four available partner banks: Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), and ICICI Bank. Click on the bank you want to link first.
Register Your Corporate ID & User ID
Click the prominent "Register Now" button on your chosen bank's card. A registration form appears asking for the Corporate ID and User ID (also called Login ID) that was issued to you by your bank's corporate banking team when you opened the current account. Enter them exactly as per your bank records — these fields are case-sensitive. Submit the form. Within a few minutes, you will receive an activation link via an email and SMS on the registered mobile number that the bank has on file. Do not share this link with anyone; it is unique to your corporate account.
Complete 2-Factor Authentication & Set Tally MPIN
Open the activation link received via email/SMS from your bank's official domain. You will be redirected to the bank's secure authentication page (bank controlled, Tally has no access to this step). Complete the 2-factor authentication flow: first, enter the 6-digit OTP sent to the registered mobile number linked to your corporate ID, and second, verify your identity using either the last 6 digits of your linked debit card, your existing net banking login password, or a challenge question depending on the bank. Once verified, the bank prompts you to create a separate Tally-specific MPIN (typically 4 or 6 digits). This is intentionally different from your regular bank MPIN for added security — you will use this Tally MPIN only when authorizing payments from inside TallyPrime.
Verify Linkage & Check Real-Time Bank Balance
Bank-side verification typically takes between 5 and 15 minutes after you complete 2FA (occasionally longer for SBI CINB depending on the branch). Once confirmed, return to TallyPrime and press Ctrl+R (Refresh) or simply close and reopen the Connected Banking screen. Your bank account name, last 4 digits of the account number, and IFSC code will appear under the "Linked Accounts" list. To confirm the integration is live, go to Gateway of Tally → Banking → Bank Balance. You will see the real-time, as-of-this-second current account balance fetched directly from the bank API, not the Tally book balance. Cross-check this number once against your net banking dashboard to confirm it matches exactly.
Make a Payment via Connected Banking
To process a vendor payment, open a Payment Voucher by pressing F5. Select your newly linked Bank ledger under "Account", select the party (Supplier/Employee) ledger under "Particulars", enter the bill-wise allocation, and enter the amount. On pressing Enter to save the voucher, TallyPrime now shows a new option: "Pay via Connected Banking" instead of the standard print prompt. Click Yes. You will be asked to enter your Tally MPIN. If Maker-Checker is enabled (recommended for all businesses), the Maker (who entered the voucher) saves it after entering their own MPIN, but the payment is held in a Pending Authorization queue. The Checker logs in separately using their own Tally user credentials, navigates to Banking → Pending Approvals, reviews the voucher, and approves it with their MPIN. Only then is the payment instruction sent to the bank via API, and the funds are transferred via NEFT/RTGS/IMPS instantly with a confirmation UTR number auto-recorded in the voucher narration.
Auto Bank Reconciliation (BRS)
The single biggest time saver: open Gateway of Tally → Banking → Bank Reconciliation (BRS) and select your linked bank ledger. The statement lines arrive automatically every 30 minutes — no Excel download, no import button. TallyPrime's auto-match algorithm then reconciles approximately 95%+ of entries automatically by matching UTR, cheque number, amount, and date with the corresponding Tally vouchers. The remaining unmatched 5% (typically round-sum payments without reference or bank charges not posted to vouchers) can be manually marked by clicking "Add as Voucher" or "Mark as Reconciled". At the end of the month, simply click "Confirm BRS" and the reconciliation is done — a process that used to take 2–3 working days now takes 20–30 minutes on average.
Pro Tips
Connected Banking Pro Tips from Sanyam Consultants
- Always enable Maker-Checker for amounts above ₹50,000: Even in sole-proprietor firms, set up a second Tally user login and enforce dual authorization above ₹50K for internal control. This is a basic check that protects against accidental wrong-amount transfers, wrong-bank-account selection, and fraud — your auditor will also appreciate it during year-end review.
- SBI Connected Banking requires additional CINB e-mandate form: Unlike Axis or Kotak which accept the standard Tally integration form, SBI Corporate Internet Banking (CINB) users must submit a separate, stamped "e-Mandate for API Based Corporate Integration" form in duplicate to their SBI home branch along with the board resolution. Keep one acknowledged copy for your records — this is the most commonly missed step that delays SBI activation.
- Axis Bank offers fastest activation (2 working days) vs SBI which can take 5–7 days: If you need Connected Banking activated urgently for a loan sanction or GST payment deadline, choose Axis Bank first. Kotak fyn usually takes 2–3 days, ICICI Corporate 3–4 days, and SBI CINB between 5 and 7 working days from branch submission depending on the RM workload.
- Add a "Connected Banking Transaction Fee" ledger under Indirect Expenses: Bank charges (NEFT/RTGS/IMPS processing fees) are auto-posted to the bank ledger via statement feeds as expected, but most banks also charge a separate monthly or annual API access subscription fee which appears as a consolidated debit once a month. Create a dedicated ledger for this under Indirect Expenses to keep your books clean for GST and ITR filing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely secure, and emphatically no. Connected Banking uses an RBI-mandated API-level integration pattern where TallyPrime acts purely as a secure pass-through channel between your local desktop and your bank's official API endpoints. All data in transit is encrypted with 256-bit AES and RSA 2048-bit asymmetric encryption — the same banking-grade standards used by the net banking portals themselves. Critically, Tally Solutions employees, Sanyam Consultants staff, or any third party cannot initiate, view, modify, or approve payments. The payment instruction is digitally signed by your Tally MPIN on your own desktop and sent directly to the bank. All approval controls — amount limits, maker-checker rules, daily transaction caps — are fully configured and enforced at the bank's end, not in Tally. Tally has no backend access to override or read your transaction data.
Yes, absolutely. You can link ALL four banks simultaneously (Axis, Kotak, SBI, and ICICI) within the same Tally company data — and actually there is no enforced upper limit on how many current accounts you can link. The Banking module in TallyPrime displays each linked bank account separately with its own real-time balance, its own payment authorization workflow, and its own separate statement feed. For example, if you use SBI for vendor payments, Axis for payroll, and Kotak for collections, each one appears independently in Bank Balance, BRS, and Payment Voucher bank selection lists. Repeat the registration process once per bank ledger you want to connect, and all will show up under the Linked Accounts section of Connected Banking.
Yes, Connected Banking requires a valid, active TSS (Tally Software Services) subscription on your TallyPrime serial number — there is no way around this requirement. Tally cloud infrastructure is used as the secure, always-online middleware broker between your bank's API servers and your local TallyPrime desktop to ensure 99.9% uptime and seamless authentication even when your PC IP changes. If your TSS is expired, the Connected Banking menu option will simply not appear under Banking module. You can check your TSS expiry date inside TallyPrime from the User Profile icon after Ctrl+K login. If you need an instant TSS renewal at the best available rates in Hisar, Haryana, contact Sanyam Consultants today — we process TSS renewals within 30 minutes during business hours with a valid GST invoice.