IMPS transfers India: All you need to know

There has been a recent push by the Reserve Bank of India to support bank customers in using digital transfer services to send money within India. IMPS is one of these services, and it allows for digital payments and fund transfers with just a mobile number or account details. IMPS provides instant credit to the receiving account and is available around the clock for customers. It makes transferring money easier, safe and secure versus writing checks. And with low fees, it becomes cost-effective for even small transactions. It is available through most banks in India and can be done using a mobile, bank apps, net banking or an IMPS enabled ATMs. Read on to learn more about how you can start using IMPS too.

What is the full-form of IMPS

IMPS stands for Immediate Payment Service. It falls under the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which is an umbrella organization that was set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). It oversees the operating retail payments and settlement system infrastructure in India. NPCI created the IMPS system for electronic transfers between banking customers.¹

What are IMPS transfers?

IMPS is an interbank real-time fund transfer service in India. It helps banking customers to transfer money instantly through Indian banks and RBI authorized Prepaid Payment Instrument Issuers in the country. The real benefit with IMPS is that it credits your recipient’s account instantly. Plus, you can transfer money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including holidays. So while other electronic transfer options like RTGS or NEFT are bound by banking and RBI processing hours, IMPS provides freedom to transfer money instantly whenever is convenient for you.²

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How to do IMPS transfer?

There are two ways to do an IMPS transfer. First is through your bank app, net banking, ATM or your bank branch, and the second way is through your mobile number directly.

If you are looking to do the transfer using your mobile number you will have to first register yourself with the mobile banking service of your individual bank. By registering, you will receive your Mobile Money Identifier (MMID) and MPIN from the bank.³

If you don’t intend to use the direct to mobile and will instead do it through net banking or your bank branch using an account number, you will not need to do the MMID.

If your recipient wants to receive the money through their MMID or mobile number, they will need to do the mobile registration at their bank too. By doing so they can link their mobile number with their banking account and not have to share their bank account details. Just their mobile number. If they don’t want to do the mobile money process, then they can share their account number, IFSC code or Aadhaar number with you to complete the transfer.

In either case, you will have to login to your banking application and choose the IMPS option from the Funds Transfer section. If your bank provides IMPS on SMS, you can go straight to your SMS facility in your phone. Next, you will be asked to enter your recipient’s mobile number, MMID, amount and your MPIN to send. If you aren’t sending it by MMID, then you will be asked to fill in your recipient’s details in the same process. Once sent, you should receive a confirmation SMS stating the debit from your account and the credit to your recipient’s account. That is it!

IMPS charges

The charges for IMPS is determined by your bank. But for the major commercial banks in India, the charges can range from approximately ₹5 + GST to ₹15 +GST depending on the amount being sent. Here is a quick guide to the fee charges of the major commercial banks in India:⁴

This reflects the change in policy for SBI*

It is a good idea to check the news on IMPS charges, as some banks have been proposing making it free to stimulate more digital transactions in the country.

IMPS timings

As mentioned, one of the benefits of IMPS is that it can be initiated and credited to your recipient’s account at any day or time. Even on holidays or in the middle of the night.

IMPS limit

The minimum and maximum transaction limits are dependent on which bank you are using. Each bank has set its own transfer limit depending on if you are using MMID or the recipient’s account number. So before you start your transfer, take a look at how much is allowed per transaction. For most banks, the minimum is ₹1 and the maximum cut off is typically around ₹200,000, but be sure to check⁵.

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Sources used for this article