Mobile cash on cards by April

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an RBI functionary, hopes to rope in about 25 banks into its fold to implement its Interbank Mobile Payment Solution (IMPS). “We have ten banks that have gone live with Interbank Mobile Payment Solution and expect 15 more to join the group before April end,” said NPCI chief operating officer, Mr M. Balakrishnan after unveiling the facility for Karur-based Lakshmi Vilas Bank in Chennai. IMPS is a real time fund transfer facility via mobile phones and does not require the account number of the beneficiary.Once registered with the bank for the service, a unique mobile money identifier (MMID) is issued to the customers, which along with the mobile phone number, is used for both credit and debit transactions. Though the service is enabled through a mobile application download, it can also be used in low-end phones by regular SMS facility.  “Since IMPS does not use the customer’s account number, there is no fear of misuse of accounts through hacking of mobile phones,” Mr Balakrishnan said. - Deccan Chronicle