Bankers FAQs

For
Immediate Payment Service
(IMPS)

April , 2013

Bankers FAQs (Version 1.2)

Bankers FAQs on IMPS

1.

What is IMPS?
Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) is a service introduced by NPCI empowering bank
customers to transfer money instantly within any of the IMPS enabled member banks
in across India. The service comes with many unique features like availability 24X7,
simplicity in transaction flow and accessible through mobile banking, net banking and
ATM channel.

2.

Is this service approved by the Reserve Bank of India?

The Reserve Bank of India has approved the pilot of IMPS.

3.

Which system does this service use?

IMPS are functional through the National Financial Switch of NPCI, which is also used
for routing ATM transactions.

4.

What is the messaging format used for IMPS transactions?

IMPS transaction messages are as per the ISO 8583 standards.

5.

How is architecture of IMPS?

The architecture of IMPS can be described as per the below diagram.

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6.

Does the customer need to have a bank account for availing IMPS?
Yes, the customer needs to have a bank account with the bank which has enabled this
facility.

7.

Does the customer need to register to remit the funds through IMPS?
Yes. Customer should enroll for Mobile Banking Service. The registration process shall
be as per their banks laid down procedures.

8.

Can a customer link more than one account to the same mobile number?
Yes. The customer can link the same mobile number to more than one account subject
to feasibility provided by the bank.

9.

In case if the customer has more than one account linked to his / her mobile
number how does he select the account from which he / she intends to pay?
The bank will allocate a Mobile Money Identifier (MMID) for each account of the mobile
banking customers. The customer can select the account using this MMID allocated to
him / her.

10.

What beneficiary details does the customer need to affect an IMPS remittance?
The beneficiary details required are:
a.
Beneficiarys mobile number
b.
MMID of the beneficiary customer

11.

What happens to the transaction if there is a communication failure between

banks and NPCI at the time of transaction?
Incase if there is no revert from the beneficiary bank on any transaction the remitting
bank can initiate a verification request on the status of the original fund transfer
request and can find out the fate of the transaction. The remitting bank can initiate a
maximum of three verification requests.

12.

How does the beneficiary bank revert to the transactions which cannot be
credited to beneficiary accounts?
NPCI has defined decline response codes for various anticipated failures. The
beneficiary banks have to use these response codes to decline the transactions so
that the justification for the decline is ultimately passed on to the customer.

13.

How the reconciliation does takes place for IMPS transactions?

NPCI generates the raw data file daily basis which contains the transactions pertaining
to respective Banks. NPCI has shared the raw data file format with banks. It is banks
responsibility to reconcile these transactions with their IMPS and CBS system
transaction log file daily basis.

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14.

Are there any limits with respect to amount for IMPS transactions?
With end to end encryption: Banks are free to set their own limit. (Refer RBI circular
RBI / 2011-12/312 DPSS.CO.PD.No. 1098 / 02.23.02 / 2011-12 dated December 22,
2011)
Without end to end encryption: Transaction up to Rs 5,000 can be facilitated. (Refer
RBI circular RBI / 2010-11/511 DPSS.CO.No. 2502 / 02.23.02 / 2010-11 dated May
04, 2011)

15.

Who is responsible to monitor the amount limits at account level for IMPS
transactions?
The participating banks have to monitor and control the amount limits as prescribed by
RBI for Mobile Payments at the time of debit.

16.

What are the charges levied by NPCI for IMPS transactions?

From 1st April 2012, NPCI is charging 25 paisa per successful transaction from remitter
bank only.

17.

When does the settlement happen?

The cutover of IMPS transactions happens to 23:00 each day. All transactions before
this time are included in the settlement for that particular day.

18.

How is the settlement affected?

The settlement is affected by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). As a
joining procedure, the participating banks need to submit a mandate for crediting and
debiting their RTGS accounts with the RBI in favor of NPCI. On the basis of this
mandate, NPCI affects the settlement.

19.

Are there settlement charges?

No, NPCI does not charge any settlement charges from the member banks.

20.

What are the settlement files that a bank can receive from NPCI for IMPS?
For the convenience of banks, the settlement files and reports are developed similar to
that of National Financial Switch. The participating banks can download reports from
the site using login id and password issued to them by NPCI.
The bank will get raw data files, Transaction file, Verification report and Net settlement
file from NPCI.

21.

How can a bank raise disputes with reference to IMPS transactions?

The disputes can be raised by participant banks using Dispute Management System
provided by NPCI. This service has also been developed similar to NFS for the
convenience of participating banks.

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22.

Is there an amount limit for the participating banks for their transactions?
Yes, the limit allocated to the banks is called Net Debit Cap (NDC). The NDC
calculated by NPCI at any instant for the IMPS will be net of total outward and inward
for the day. This is the maximum allowable debit for a particular bank for a day. This
value is decided on the basis of the participating banks contribution to the Settlement
Guarantee Fund.

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