IMPS

For transferring funds real time and 24X7X365 interbank was a major challenge faced in banking industry. Only NEFT & RTGS were available to user for fund transfer during banking hours.

With the above context in mind, NPCI conducted a pilot study on the mobile payment system with the banks like SBI, BOI, UBI and ICICI in August 2010. Also the banks like Yes bank, Axis and HDFC bank joined this league in the month of September, October and November 2010 respectively. Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) 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.

IMPS provides robust & real time fund transfer which offers an instant, 24X7, interbank electronic fund transfer service that could be accessed on multiple channels like Mobile, Internet, ATM, SMS. IMPS is an emphatic service which allow transferring of funds instantly within banks across India which is not only safe but also economical. Currently on IMPS, 590 members are live which includes banks & PPIs.

This facility is provided by NPCI through its existing NFS switch.

The eligible criteria for the Banks who can participate in IMPS is that the entity should have valid banking or prepaid payment instrument license from Reserve Bank of India to participate in IMPS.

Objectives of IMPS

To enable bank customers to use mobile instruments as a channel for accessing their banks accounts and remit funds
Making payment simpler just with the mobile number of the beneficiary
To sub-serve the goal of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in electronification of retail payments
To facilitate mobile payment systems already introduced in India with the Reserve Bank of India Mobile Payment Guidelines 2008 to be inter-operable across banks and mobile operators in a safe and secured manner
To build the foundation for a full range of mobile based Banking services.

The participants for IMPS will be as follows:

Remitter (Sender)
Beneficiary (Receiver)
Banks
National Financial Switch - NPCI

Pre-Requisites for Mobile Banking through IMPS Registration for Remitter:

Register yourself with the mobile banking service of the bank.
Get Mobile Money Identifier (MMID) and MPIN from the bank
Download Software (Application) for mobile banking (ensure the compatibility of mobile with the application) or use the SMS facility in your mobile if your bank provides IMPS on SMS

Registration for Beneficiary:

Link your mobile number to the account in the respective bank.
Get Mobile Money Identifier (MMID) from the bank

For Remitter (To send money):

Login to the application and select the IMPS menu from the IMPS or use the SMS facility in your mobile if your bank provides IMPS on SMS
Get Beneficiary Mobile number and MMID
Enter Beneficiary Mobile number, beneficiary MMID, Amount and your MPIN to send
Await confirmation SMS for the debit in your account and credit in beneficiary account
Note the transaction reference number for any future query
Share your Mobile number and MMID with the remitter
Ask the remitter to send money using your Mobile number and MMID
Check the confirmation SMS for credit to your account from the remitter
Note the transaction reference number for any future query

Fund transfer/Remittance

Using Mobile number & MMID (P2P)
Using Account number & IFS Code (P2A)

Using Mobile number & MMID (P2P)

IMPS offer an instant,24*7 interbank electronic fund transfer service capable of processing person to person, person to account and person to merchant remittances via mobile, internet and atms. It is a multichannel and multidimensional platform that make the payments possible within fraction of seconds with all the standards and integrity maintained for security required for even high worth transactions.

Sender & Receiver - Have to register for Mobile Banking & get a unique ID called "MMID"

Generation of MMID is a One-time process
Remitter (Sender) transfer funds to beneficiary (Receiver) using Mobile no. & 7digit MMID of beneficiary.

Additional information's:

MMID - Mobile Money Identifier (7 digit code) Each MMID is linked to a unique Mobile Number. Different MMIDs can be linked to same Mobile Number

Using Account number & IFS Code (P2A)

Presently, IMPS Person-to-Person (P2P) funds transfer requires the Remitter customer to make funds transfer using Beneficiary Mobile Number and MMID. Both Remitter as well as Beneficiary needs to register their mobile number with their respective bank account and get MMID, in order to send or receive funds using IMPS.

There may be cases where Remitter is enabled on Mobile Banking, but Beneficiary mobile number is not registered with any bank account. In such cases, Remitter shall not be able to send money to the Beneficiary using Mobile Number & MMID.

Hence on the merit of the feedback received from the banking community as well as to cater the above mentioned need, the IMPS funds transfer has been made possible using Beneficiary account number and IFS code as well, in addition to Beneficiary mobile number and MMID.