What is IMPS?
IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) is India's instant interbank transfer system, which moves money between bank accounts in real time, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. It is run by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and was publicly launched on November 22, 2010.
IMPS works much like the UK's Faster Payment System: each payment reaches the recipient in seconds, at any hour. It is one of the main account-to-account rails businesses use to pay people in India. NPCI counts 867 live members, including banks and prepaid payment instrument issuers. Payout providers, including Due, use it to deliver INR to Indian bank accounts in seconds.
In 2025, IMPS handled about 518 crore (5.18 billion) transactions worth roughly ₹75 lakh crore (₹75 trillion), according to the RBI's Payment System Report. Value is growing much faster than volume. From 2021 to 2025, IMPS grew 4.5% a year by volume and 18.1% a year by value, so the average IMPS payment is getting bigger.
How do you send money with IMPS?
IMPS needs one of two sets of recipient details. Per NPCI, a sender can use:
- Account number and IFSC: the recipient's bank account number plus the 11-character IFSC that identifies their bank branch, much like a UK sort code, and the most common option for business payouts
- Mobile number and MMID: the recipient's mobile number plus their 7-digit Mobile Money Identifier, issued by their bank
Transfers can be started from mobile banking, internet banking, a bank branch, an ATM, or by SMS. Behind each channel, the money moves the same way: instantly, bank to bank.
IMPS also lets the sender see the recipient's name before confirming a transfer. That check is useful enough that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told banks to add a similar name look-up to NEFT and RTGS by April 1, 2025. Like a penny test, it helps confirm the account before real money moves.
What is the IMPS transaction limit?
The system-wide cap is ₹5 lakh (₹500,000) per transaction. The RBI raised it from ₹2 lakh in October 2021, citing the importance of the IMPS system and consumer convenience.
The cap is a ceiling, not a guarantee, because NPCI notes that the limit each bank sets for each channel applies. As a result, some banks allow less through mobile or SMS than through internet banking. Larger single payments go through RTGS instead.
How is IMPS different from NEFT, RTGS, and UPI?
India has four main ways to move money between bank accounts, and they differ mainly on speed and size:
- IMPS: run by NPCI, settles each transfer in real time around the clock, and caps transfers at ₹5 lakh
- NEFT: run by the RBI, available around the clock but processed in batches, so money isn't instant
- RTGS: run by the RBI, settles each payment individually in real time, has a ₹2 lakh minimum and no maximum, and has run 24/7 since December 14, 2020
- UPI: run by NPCI on top of IMPS infrastructure, and uses a UPI ID or QR code instead of an account number and IFSC
In practice, IMPS is the default for instant payouts up to ₹5 lakh when you have the recipient's bank details. RTGS covers larger amounts. UPI suits recipients who share a UPI ID instead of bank details.
When should a business use IMPS for payouts?
IMPS fits payouts where speed matters and amounts stay under the cap. Common examples are contractor and freelancer payments, marketplace seller payouts, refunds, and insurance claims. In each case, waiting for an NEFT batch would add delay the recipient notices.
Three things make it practical at scale. It runs on weekends and holidays, so payouts don't wait for banking hours. It uses the bank details most businesses already collect. And the name check catches many errors before money leaves.
The main limits are the per-transaction cap and each bank's own channel limits. Payments funded from abroad also need an RBI purpose code, which states why the money is entering India.
How do banks settle IMPS payments?
The recipient gets the money in seconds, but the banks settle with each other later. IMPS uses deferred net settlement: NPCI adds up what each bank owes the others, and the banks pay only the net amounts.
That interbank settlement runs in batches through the RBI's RTGS system several times a day, according to a World Bank study of fast payment systems. For a business, the gap is invisible. The recipient's bank credits the payout right away and settles with the sending bank afterward.
What happens when an IMPS transfer fails?
Sometimes the sender's account is debited but the money never reaches the recipient. The RBI sets a firm deadline for fixing this. Under its 2019 rules on failed transactions, the recipient's bank must reverse a failed IMPS credit by the next day (T+1) at the latest.
If the reversal takes longer, the bank owes the customer ₹100 for every day of delay beyond T+1. For a business sending payouts, that means a failed IMPS payment should come back within a day. A payout that stays stuck longer is worth chasing with the bank or payout provider.
How does Due support IMPS payouts?
Due pays out INR to Indian bank accounts over IMPS and UPI, with instant settlement, per its supported payment methods. Platforms create a recipient with the payee's bank details and send through the same API they use for other corridors.
On Due, INR runs in one direction: IMPS and UPI are payout rails for sending money into India.
Book a demo to set up INR payouts with Due →
