RBI/2016-17/150
DPSS.CO.PD.No.1288/02.14.006/2016-17
November
22, 2016
All Prepaid Payment Instrument
Issuers,
System Providers, System Participants
and all other Prospective Prepaid Payment Instrument Issuers
Dear Madam / Sir,
Special measures to incentivise
Electronic Payments –
(i) Enhancement in issuance limits for Pre-Paid Payment Instruments (PPIs)
in India
(ii) Special measures for merchants
Following the withdrawal of
legal tender characteristics of existing ? 500/- and ? 1000/- Bank Notes
(Specified Bank Notes – SBN), in order to facilitate the adoption of
digital payments, it has been considered necessary to introduce the
following special measures in partial modification of Master Circular DPSS.CO.PD.PPI.No.01/02.14.006/2016-17
dated July 01, 2016 on Issuance and Operation of Pre-paid
Payment Instruments in India.
(i) Enhancement in PPI limits:
a.
The
limit of semi-closed Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) that can be issued
under Para 7.2 (i) of the Master Circular on issuance and operations of
PPIs in India has now been enhanced from ? 10,000/- to ? 20,000/- .
b.
The
total value of reloads during any given month shall also not exceed ?
20,000/-
c.
All
other extant instructions in this regard shall remain unchanged.
(ii) Special dispensation for
merchants:
As per the extant PPI
guidelines, merchants are defined as establishments who accept the PPIs
issued by PPI issuer against the sale of goods and services. As a special
dispensation for small merchants, PPI issuers can now issue PPIs to such
merchants subject to the following:
a.
Merchants
shall give a self-declaration in respect of their merchant status and
details of their own bank account, which shall be kept on record by the
issuer.
b.
PPIs
can be issued to such willing merchants only after due verification and
validation of their bank account details.
c.
Inflows
of funds / credit to such PPIs shall emanate only from sale transactions of
the merchant.
d.
While
there is no minimum balance requirement, the maximum value in these PPIs
shall not exceed ? 20,000/- at any point of time.
e.
Funds
transfer from such PPIs are permitted only to the merchant’s own linked
bank account and upto an amount of ? 50,000/- per month, without any limit
per transaction.
f.
PPI
issuers shall clearly identify such PPIs in their systems for the purpose
of maintenance of escrow, reporting and MIS requirements.
2. The above measures shall come into effect from the
date of this circular and shall be applicable till December 30, 2016,
subject to review.
3. The directive is issued under Section 10(2) read
with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007, (Act 51 of
2007).
Yours faithfully
(Nanda S Dave)
Chief General Manager
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