RBI Issues New Type Of Prepaid e-Wallet For Daily Retail Payments

On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a new type of semi-closed Prepaid Payment Instrument for making small payments at local shops and retail outlets. The PPI comes with a monthly rechargeable limit of Rs 10,000 to use for payments towards retail payments only.

"To give impetus to small value digital payments and for enhanced user experience, it has been decided to introduce a new type of semi-closed PPI," RBI said in a notification. The said instrument shall be issued by bank and non-bank PPI Issuers after obtaining minimum details of the PPI holder.

Other features include:

• The minimum details to be provided to the bank/non-bank PPI issued are -a mobile number verified with One Time Pin (OTP) and a self-declaration of name and unique identity/identification number of any 'mandatory document' or 'officially valid document' (OVD) as per RBI rules regarding KYC (Know Your Customer).
• These PPIs shall be reloadable in nature and issued in card or electronic form.
• Loading/reloading shall be only from a bank account.
• The amount loaded in such PPIs during any month cannot exceed Rs 10,000. Subsequently, the total amount loaded during the financial year shall not exceed Rs 1,20,000.
• The amount outstanding at any point of time in such PPIs shall not exceed Rs 10,000.
• These PPIs shall be used only for the purchase of goods and services and not for funds transfer.
• PPI issuers shall provide an option to close the PPI at any time and also allow to transfer the funds 'back to source' (payment source from where the PPI was loaded) at the time of closure.
• The features of such PPIs shall be clearly communicated to the PPI holder by SMS / e-mail/post or by any other means at the time of issuance of the PPI / before the first loading of funds.
• The minimum detail PPIs existing as on the date of this circular can be converted to the above type of PPI if desired by the PPI holder.