RBI asks PPI issuers to provide interoperability for full KYC account holders by 2022

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said that all pre-paid instruments (PPIs) will be required to provide interoperability by March 31, 2022, for users who have completed full KYC. The outstanding amount for the full-KYC PPIs has also been increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, in keeping with the proposal made by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in April. 

PPIs for Mass Transit Systems such as travel cards for metros and buses will be exempted from the interoperability criteria while it is optional for gift card issuers. 

PPIs include electronic cards, smart transit cards, gift cards and vouchers, mobile wallets and debit and credit cards. PPIs can be issued by banks as well as non-bank entities.

RBI has also permitted cash withdrawal of up to Rs 10,000 per month for full KYC account holders of non-bank PPIs. The maximum limit per transaction for these withdrawals have been set at Rs 2,000 and will require the PPI issuer to authenticate each transactions using Additional Factor Authentication (AFA) or PIN. 

Cash withdrawal using debit cards and open system prepaid cards issued by banks from point-of-sale (PoS) terminals has also been rationalised to Rs 2,000 per transaction with a monthly upper limit of Rs 10,000 across Tier 1 to 6 centres, said the notification. 

The move is likely to promote the migration of PPI holders to full KYC accounts, encourage interoperability and improve the acceptance infrastructure in Tier 3 to 6 centres, the RBI governor said in April. Improving the acceptance infrastructure in these centres and increasing the number of digital transactions across the country was among key focus areas for RBI’s vision document for 2019-21.