IMPS – March 2012 Volumes

It was nice to see the jump in IMPS (Interbank Mobile Payment Service) volumes for March 2012, as compared to February 2012.

The Customers as well as the respective IMPS member banks seem to slowly getting a grip on the process flow.

All the member banks have great information about the IMPS process flow on their websites.

Such information increases the confidence levels of the customers to try out IMPS for their ePayments.

During April 1^st week, as there quite a few Bank Holidays, customers must have been greatly benefited by IMPS.

A focused marketing approach by the member banks, will increase the recall levels of IMPS, and nudge them towards IMPS.

NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) has made a beginning by conceptualizing the IMPS Video and displaying on its website.

6 benefits of a focused marketing campaign:

1. Increase in customer awareness.
2. Increase in brand recall.
3. Encourage customers to enquire with their respective Banks about the IMPS facility.
4. Encourage customers to shift part of their traditional Payments to IMPS.
5. Effective ROI for Banks for their investment in the IMPS infrastructure.
6. Increase in disputed transactions, which will enable NPCI and the Banks to fine-tune the process flow.

In the near future, NPCI might launch a marketing campaign for IMPS.

Safe ePayments – Awareness Campaign

The word ‘Safe ePayments’ is now an official word.

The word i.e ‘Safe ePayments’ has been officially mentioned by India’s leading business newspaper, ‘The Economic Times’.

In the last couple of years, Indian Banks, either Public Sector or Private Sector or Foreign Banks have invested considerably in IT infrastructure to ramp up their ePayments offerings.

The main drivers towards Safe ePayments were Reserve Bank of India and National Payment Company of India.

UIDAI (AADHAR) and the Central/State Governments too are now major motivators to move to Safe ePayments.

The ePayments volumes are on the increase, but a huge untapped potential is there.

The main reason for a slow conversion from traditional payments to ePayments is the lack of a common awareness program aimed at the Indian public.

Individual players have been doing their bit to promote ePayments, but a focused continuous program will do wonders for a surge in volumes.

‘Safe ePayments’ should be considered as a Brand and there must be efforts to promote it as a Brand.

The question now arises is as to who should promote the Brand, i.e the Regulator (RBI/NPCI/Central and State Governments), Banks directly or via IBA or the intermediaries(MasterCard/Visa/Diners etc)