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, Branch and USSD(*99#). 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, 243 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.
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"
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
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.
IFS Code - 11 digit alphanumeric number, available in the users Cheque book.
In ABRS, a remitter can initiate IMPS transaction using the beneficiary's AADHAAR number, which acts as a financial address & which will be linked to the beneficiaries account number. ABRS facilitates in simplifying the IMPS payment initiation process as in this service the customer will have to input only AADHAAR number of the beneficiary for initiating an IMPS transaction. Another important utility of this service will be in disbursal of subsidy payment i.e. Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)/ Direct Benefit transfer (DBT) by the Government. ABRS will act as a catalyst in expanding financial Inclusion reach.
To facilitate the effective implementation of ABRS, a new feature is being added to the existing NUUP (USSD based platform on *99#) service. Under this new service, known as "Query Service on Aadhaar Mapper" the customer will be able to know : -
For transactions initiated using Mobile, transactions will be authenticated using mobile number & MPIN.
IMPS transactions can also be initiated from ATMs and Internet banking channels. Authentication will be done for remitting customers while using the ATM channel as follows:
Authentication will be done for remitting customers while using the Internet banking channel as follows:
Appropriate existing two-factor authentication method would be used for all the channels. The limit as prescribed by the bank for these channels would apply while transferring money using either of these channels.
While initiating an IMPS transaction using either ATM or Internet channel, mobile banking registration for a remitting customer is not mandatory. Similarly, for customers receiving money using account number/IFSC, or using AADHAAR number, mobile banking registration is not mandatory.
