The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will charge 10 paise to remitting banks for every mobile transaction on the Inter Bank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) from April 1, 2011.
“To provide momentum and impetus to mobile-based financial transactions, the charge has been brought down from 25 paise as planned earlier, ” said A P Hota, managing director and chief executive officer, NPCI.
The fee was fully waived for the current financial year to promote the product. However, banks are free to charge their respective customers according to their policies.
Currently, 14 banks, including nine private and 5 public sector banks are using IMPS. 12 others are in the process of joining this service. IDBI Bank may launch the service in the next 3-4 months. “We may pass the cost to the customer if we are being charged for it, but the final call will be taken on the launch,” said a senior official from IDBI Bank.
Corporation Bank is already live on the system. “We will take a call on whether or not to charge the customer on mobile transactions. It depends on the use of this channel by the customer,” said CMD Ramnath Pradeep.
To receive payments, one would just need an identification proof. However, to make payments, the user should have a particular software on his/her mobile phone, which will be provided by the respective banks.