IFSC stands for Indian Financial System Code .

In the Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS), the Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) is being used as the addressing code in user-to-user message transmission.
The Payment System Applications such as RTGS, CFMS and NEFT developed by the Reserve Bank of India use these codes.

The code consists of 11 Characters -

1.First 4 characters (4!A) represent the entity.
2.Fifth position has been defaulted with a '0' (Zero) for future use
3.And the Last 6 character (6!X) denotes the branch identity.

IFSC is being identified by the RBI as the code to be used for various payment system projects within the country, and it would, in due course, cover all networked branches in the country. In due course, when all bank branches participate in electronic payment systems, they would need to have a single identifiable unique code and IFSC would serve the purpose effectively.