KYC Deadline For Mobile Wallets Extended By 6 Months

Users of mobile wallets like Paytm, PhonePe and Amazon Pay now have 6 additional months to complete their KYC (Know-Your-Customer) requirements and will not face disruptions in their transactions till 29 February 2020.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the deadline for mobile wallet operators or Prepaid Payment Instruments issuers to make their customers KYC complaint from 31 August 2019 to 29 February 2020. The new deadline was, however, placed with a warning that no further extension would be granted.

"It is advised that the timeline for conversion of minimum detail PPIs (pre-paid payment instruments) to KYC compliant PPIs has been extended from 18 months to 24 months. It may also be noted that no further extension will be granted for this purpose," the RBI said in the notification.

These mobile wallet or PPI service providers are required to conduct physical verification of customers to make them fully KYC compliant.

Earlier, industry body, Payments Council of India, said that it hoped that the government comes with a method that would avoid the need for a face-to-face verification of customers. It also hopes for clarity on e-KYC using Aadhaar or similar digital means of KYC verification to fasten the process.