Immediate Payment Service (IMPS)

Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) is a tool through which one can transfer money instantly within banks across India through mobile, internet and ATMs which is not only safe but also economical both in financial and non-financial perspectives. This facility is available 24x7x365. The IMPS facility is provided by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Why IMPS was started?

Before IMPS system, the transactions could be done either by NEFT or by RTGS. And this can also happen in NEFT and RTGS working hours. So NPCI along with some banks like SBI, BOI, UBI and ICICI in 2010 conducted a pilot study to create a system that works 24×7. As a result, IMP public launch happened on 22nd November 2010 by Smt. Shyamala Gopinath, DG RBI at Mumbai and this service is now available to the Indian public.

The participants for IMPS are:

• Remitter (Sender)
• Beneficiary (Receiver)
• Banks
• National Financial Switch by NPCI

Objectives of IMPS

• To be customer friendly so that customers do not have to wait for tomorrow to make remittances.
• To make the payment simpler just with the use of mobile number.
• To achieve digitization in doing retail payments.
• To build the foundation for a full range of mobile based Banking services.

Some important facts:

• The bank should have an approval from RBI for Mobile Banking Service to be eligible to participate in IMPS.
• Customer should do Mobile Banking Registration if he wants to transact through mobile.
• The customer gets a unique Mobile Money Identifier (MMID) which is one of the inputs to start the transaction. It is a 7 digit number issued by banks.
• Every mobile phone be it a basic phone or smartphone is eligible for IMPS.
• There is no need of bank account to avail IMPS.
• More than one account can be linked to single mobile number.
• The recipient is not required to register for IMPS.
• Individual banks can also charge money for IMPS as per bank policy.

IMPS Charges as on November 2019 

Every IMPS transaction you make is associated with a certain fee. The fee depends on the amount that is to be transferred. In addition, goods and services tax is also applicable at 18%. The table below gives the calculation of transaction charges for IMPS:

Mobile Money Identifier:

Mobile Money Identification Number (MMID) is a seven digit number of which the first four digits are the unique identification number of the bank offering IMPS.