Immediate Payment Services or IMPS is one latest technology in account-to-account money transfer or remittance and cell phone money transfer space. It is a system that transfers money in real time. It is developed by National Payment Corporation of India. This is the future of remittance and merchant payment, as the transfer is in real time

IMPS is done directly or indirectly. Banks allow their customers to do money transfer over their online account or through mobile applications. The other indirect route is to approach any local agent or retail outlet of a pre-paid instrument company ( PPI ). There are many pre-paid instrument companies such as GI Tech, Oxygen, ItzCash, PayWorld and so on. PPIs command 40 per cent share of the transaction value.

Mobile transactions are popular and mobiles have penetrated the society much more than the Internet. In this payment network, the NPCI has tied up 85 banks and 11 PPIs.

IMPS is very swift. No other technology can match its swiftness. The system is popular among migrant workers, students, vegetable sellers and urban people.

GI Tech’s ICash is an IMPS-enabled card. It also offers a Scholar Card to students to pay fees at Lovely Professional University, the first-ever university to use IMPS-enabled payments.

Transactions of IMPS have surged from 3 million in 2014 to 13 million in 2015. In money terms, it stands at Rs 10,550 crore in 2015. NPCI wants to reach a goal of 100 million transactions by September, 2016.