IMPS of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is an important payment system which provides 24×7 instant home money transfer facility and is accessible through various channels like Internet Banking, Mobile Banking App, Bank Branches, ATM, SMS and IVRS. It allows customers to transfer money instantly through banks across India and RBI authorized Prepaid Payment Instrument Issuers (PPIs).
IMPS is one of the most widely used money transfer mediums, however, the maximum limit of Rs 2 lakh was becoming a major hurdle for many customers who wanted to do higher transactions.
The per transaction limit in IMPS with effect from January 2014 is currently Rs 2 lakh for channels other than SMS and IVRS. The per transaction limit is Rs 5000 for SMS and IVRS channels. With RTGS now operational round the clock, the settlement cycle of IMPS has similarly increased, thereby reducing credit and settlement risk. Considering the importance of IMPS system in processing of domestic payment transactions, it is proposed to increase the per transaction limit from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for channels other than SMS and IVRS. this will further increase digital payment and will provide additional facility to customers to make digital payments above Rs 2 lakh. Necessary instructions in this regard will be issued separately,” RBI Governor Shashikant Das said.
IMPS transactions are channel independent and can be initiated from mobile/internet/ATM channels. Customers get confirmation of debit and credit by SMS. It is a service which is available 24 X 7 including Sundays and Holidays. To make payment through IMPS one needs mobile number and mobile money identifier or bank account and IFSC code or Aadhaar. Payment can be made using Internet Banking, Mobile Banking or ATM.
NEFT transfer usually takes a few hours to credit the amount to the intended beneficiary. Even with RTGS the transfer is often not instant. Under normal circumstances, the beneficiary branches are expected to receive the money in real time as soon as the remittance is transferred by the bank. The beneficiary bank has to credit the beneficiary’s account within 30 minutes of receiving the funds transfer message.
Banks charge customers using IMPS transactions. However, some banks offer IMPS free of cost depending on the type of account held by the customers or using IMPS through Internet Banking.