IFSC Code is an alphanumeric code of 11 characters which is used to uniquely identify a bank branch in electronic fund transfer or money transfer between banks. IFSC abbreviation is Indian Financial System Code. These codes are used in various types of bank related activities like the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) an interbank electronic instant mobile money transfer service (IMPS), Immediate Payment Service and Centralized Funds Management System (CFMS). To initiate a bank transfer from account to account one should provide the beneficiary bank ifsc code.
Ifsc code consists of 11 characters ex. AMCB0660031, SBIN0000850, ANDB0000004. In ifsc code first 4 characters represent bank code (short code) and the fifth character is reserved for future usage and the last six characters represents the branch. So if we consider the following ifsc codes SBIN0000850 the first four characters "SBIN" represents State Bank of India and the last six characters "000850" represents the branch code.
All the account numbers within a branch starts with the branch code so if you want to cross check the ifsc code while adding beneficiary account the ifsc code last 6 characters will be the first six characters of the beneficiary account number in most cases*.