SBI account holder? You don't need to pay IMPS charges from tomorrow - What you must know

In what comes as a good news for State Bank of India (SBI) account holders, the largest public lender is set to waive off the transactions charges for the funds transferred via immediate payment service (IMPS) with effect from August 01, 2019 - IMPS service allows users to send and receive money in real time. The decision is in line with government's plan to promote digital payments. The bank has already removed transactions charges on funds transferred through National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) services. "The bank will also waive-off IMPS charges for its INB, MB and YONO customers effective from August 1, 2019," it said in a statement.

The RTGS and NEFT charges applicable on YONO, internet banking and mobile banking customers were removed earlier this month with effect from July 01, 2019. PK Gupta, SBI MD (Retail & Digital Banking), had told PTI that the decision was in sync with bank's strategy and Government of India's vision to create a digital economy. He had said that SBI has taken this step to promote use of YONO, internet banking and mobile banking for doing NEFT and RTGS transactions without incurring any cost.

The government of India has been consistently promoting digital transactions in the country. It has been pushing for the use of digital channels for payments, transfer of funds, and other monetary settlements. Even during this year's Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed a 2 per cent TDS on cash withdrawals of any amount over Rs 1 crore in a year from a bank account. 

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“This is in continuation of a number of initiatives taken in the recent past for the promotion of digital payments and less cash economy, and to promote digital payments further,” FM Sitharaman had said in her Budget speech. 

How IMPS transactions work?

IMPS is an interbank electronic fund transfer service that allows customers to send and receive money throughout the day. It is managed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and is built upon the existing National Financial Switch network. At March-end, 2019, the number of SBI customers using internet banking were more than six crores, while 1.41 crore persons were using mobile banking services.