Six months after the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) launched the ambitious Inter Bank Mobile Payments Service, 22 Banks have integrated the service across the country. Around 10 million customers registered for the service in the month of April. However, taking into account transaction data from the month, it seems that the number of people actually using the service is far less. With about 4,000 transactions for a total amount of just about Rs 1.5 crore, IMPS, which was hailed as a revolution in mobile payments, has not seen widespread adoption. As per the transaction data released by the NPCI, a total of 10,837,000 MMIDs were registered in April 2011. The number of Inter Bank transactions during the month were 2793, amounting to a total value of Rs 1,33,77,086.87. There were 1172 Intra Bank transactions for an amount totaling up to Rs 22,08,087.28 in April. In total, IMPS facilitated 3965 transactions of amount Rs 1,55,85,174.15. The NPCI had said that it intends to extend the service to internet banking and ATM networks of banks, to widen its reach. Also, after the RBI approving merchant payments through IMPS, utility bill payments, shopping transactions and other payments including fees to various agencies, will be possible through the network. What's Preventing Mass Adoption? The service only charges a transaction fee of Rs 0.10, per successful transaction from remitter banks. Also, banks can charge customers a service fee decided by them. While we don't expect mass adoption to take place overnight, as you can tell…
