MUMBAI (CU)_The Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) of the Reserve Bank’s National Payments Corporation of India is a payment system which enables 24×7 instant domestic funds transfer facility. It allows customers to transfer funds instantly between banks and RBI authorised Prepaid Payment Instrument Issuers (PPI) using internet banking, mobile banking, ATMs, SMSs, interactive voice responses or through ATMs.
Last October, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced an increase in the amount of money that can be transferred through this system, from ₹200,000 to ₹500,000. “In view of the importance of the IMPS system in processing of domestic payment transactions, it is proposed to increase the per-transaction limit from ₹2 lakh to ₹5 lakh for channels other than SMS and IVRS,” the central bank said in a statement at the time. “This will lead to further increase in digital payments and will provide an additional facility to customers for making digital payments beyond ₹2 lakh.”
Accordingly, this week, the State Bank of India (SBI) decided to follow suit, increase its limit for IMPS transfers from ₹200,000 to ₹500,000. The new rules come into effect on 1 February, the bank said in a press release. For transfers exceeding ₹200,000 made through a bank branch, a charge of ₹20 plus GST will be levied on the transaction. However, transfers one using digital mediums like mobile banking and internet banking will not attract any service charge, SBI said. SBI has not levied any Service Charges on IMPS transactions up to ₹5 lakhs, done through Internet banking/Mobile Banking including YONO,” the press release read.
IMPS is a popular payment service in India, which only require a mobile number and a bank account or a mobile money identifier, together with an IFSC code or Aadhaar, to successfully transfer funds.
