Living-Smartly.com – Being Wise, Healthy and Financially Sufficient

Make Payment With Your Phone at Kirana Stores: NPCI

Small payments such as local taxi fares and kirana store purchases are set to go cashless soon as the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has decided to extend the facility of Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) for merchants also.

According to the CEO of NPCI, there are nearly 10 million kirana stores in India, but the total number of Point of Sales (PoS) terminals are below 7 lakhs.

IMPS offers instant 24×7 electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones. Of the 50 banks, seven banks like SBI, ICICI, Axis bank, Andhra bank, IndusInd bank, Federal bank and Standard Chartered have enabled IMPS merchant payments and remaining banks are expected to join in due course.

You can make payments up to Rs 5,000 a day by using a basic handset which facilitates SMS. This is similar to net banking or online payments using credit card. Other merchants or service providers such as Indian Railway’s online booking portal IRCTC, insurance companies, DTH providers and various other utilities have enabled payments through IMPS.

However, the major defect in IMPS is lack of awareness. Since a transaction involves multiple numbers like MMID number, mobile number etc., it becomes a cumbersome task. Also, when there is a shortage of small coins, merchants to forego small change or repaying in kind.