The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said it will be mandatory for prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) issuers to give the holders of full-KYC PPIs interoperability through authorised card networks by March 31, 2022.
Besides, the RBI also permitted cash withdrawal of up to Rs 10,000 per month from full-KYC PPIs issued by non-bank entities, and doubled the maximum amount outstanding in such PPIs to Rs 2 lakh.
PPIs are instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services, remittances, and funds transfers, among others, against the value stored in/ on them.
Last month, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had said that the central bank has been stressing on interoperability to optimally utilise the payment instruments like cards and wallets and also given the constraint of scarce acceptance infrastructure like point of sale devices, ATMs, QR codes, and bill-payment touch points.
In a circular, the RBI said, "It shall be mandatory for PPI issuers to give the holders of full-KYC PPIs (KYCcompliant PPIs) interoperability through authorised card networks (for PPIs in the form of cards) and UPI (for PPIs in the form of electronic wallets)." Also, interoperability should be mandatory on the acceptance side as well.
"The interoperability shall be enabled by March 31, 2022," it added.
However, PPIs for mass transit systems will remain exempted from interoperability while gift PPI issuers have the option to offer interoperability.
The circular further said the maximum amount outstanding in KYC-compliant PPIs has been increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.
Further, the feature of cash withdrawal has been permitted in respect of full-KYC PPIs issued by non-bank PPI issuers as well. The maximum limit will be Rs 2,000 per transaction with an overall limit of Rs 10,000 per month.
The RBI also said the cash withdrawal limit from point of sale (PoS) terminals using debit cards and open system prepaid cards issued by banks in India has been rationalised to Rs 2,000 per transaction within an overall monthly limit of Rs 10,000 across all locations (Tier 1 to 6 centres).
PPI issuers are companies incorporated in India and registered under the Companies Act. A company can issue and operate PPIs after receiving authorisation from RBI.
