Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued guidelines prepaid instruments (PPI)

•  Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued guidelines for interoperability among prepaid instruments (PPI) such as e-wallets. Inter-operability is technical compatibility that enables payment system to be used in conjunction with other payment systems.

Important highlights of guidelines:

• The guidelines are aimed at promoting money transfer between e-wallets and digital transactions. They also elaborate requirements for achieving interoperability for mobile wallets, cards and norms for customer protection and grievance redressal.
• The interoperability will be achieved in phased manner i.e. initially inter-operability of PPIs issued in form of wallets through UPI, and later between wallets and bank accounts through UPI, and interoperability for PPIs issued in form of cards through card networks.
• The interoperability between mobile wallets and between bank accounts and e-wallets will be enabled through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system. It will be facilitated to all KYC-compliant PPI accounts and entire acceptance infrastructure.
• In case where PPIs are issued in form of cards, then cards will be affiliated to authorised card networks. PPI issuers must have board approved policy for achieving PPI inter-operability. This will allow PPI issuers, system providers and system participants in different systems to undertake, clear and settle payment transactions across systems without participating in multiple systems. Card networks are also allowed to onboard PPI issuers to join their network. Non-bank PPI issuers are permitted to participate as members/associate members of authorised card networks.

Analysis:

• UPI is a payments system launched by the National Payments Corporation of India in August 2016. It facilitates instant fund transfer between two bank accounts on the mobile platform, without having to provide any detail of the beneficiary’s bank account. KYC is a process through which financial institutions verify information about customers.
• The interoperability of PPIs will allow transfer from one wallet to another through UPI. It will also allow transfer from wallets to bank also through UPI. Moreover, wallet companies can now issue cards and for this they don’t need to partner with banks for UPI and card issuance. It will thus boost digital payments, improve financial penetration in long term.

By: Vishal