IMPS is owned by the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI), a non-profit organisation jointly established by India’s central bank - the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) along with the Indian Banks' Association. It has been built upon the National Financial Switch (NFS), which is the widest network of shared ATMs in the country. NFS is a brainchild of the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), which is yet another initiative undertaken by the RBI. Thus, IMPS is a government-backed payments system that is 100% legal.