The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted authorised bank and non-bank and non-bank prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers to issue cards for making payments across various public transport systems.
The latest move is set to make travel plans for commuters more convenient and hassle-free as they will be able to travel across platforms such as bus, metro, train and even pay for the parking fee by using just one card.
“Public transport systems across the country cater to a multitude of commuters on a daily basis. To provide convenience, speed, affordability, and safety of digital modes of payment to commuters for transit services, it has been decided to permit authorised bank and non-bank PPI issuers to issue PPIs for making payments across various public transport systems,” reads the statement.
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These instruments will be referred to as PPI-MTS (prepaid payment instruments-mass transit systems)
Accordingly, RBI has updated its master directions.
These are the key provisions of the PPI-MTS:
1. Banks and non-banks are permitted to issue these prepaid payment instruments.
2. These instruments will carry the automated fare collection application with functionality of transit services, toll collection as well as parking.
3. These prepaid instruments will be enabled only for payments across various modes of public transport such as metro, buses, rail and waterways, tolls and parking.
4. These prepaid instruments do not need any KYC verification of holders.
5. These PPI will be reloadable in nature;
6. The outstanding amount in these PPIs will not exceed ₹3,000 at any point of time.
7. These PPIs can have perpetual validity, i.e., the provisions of validity and redemption given in Section 13 of this master direction will not apply to PPI-MTS.
8. Cash-withdrawal, refund or funds transfer will not be permitted in such PPIs.
These master directions were first issued on Aug 27, 2021. They went through several rounds of revision in Nov 2021, Feb 2023 and the latest on Friday i.e., Feb 23, 2024.
Paytm directions
Meanwhile, in another news RBI has instructed the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to review One97 Communications request to become a third party application provider (TPAP) for the UPI channel on the Paytm app.
The regulator, therefore, has rolled out more measures to ensure UPI customers using the @paytm handle operated by Paytm Payments Bank continue seamless digital payments even after the March 15 deadline to halt further credits to the accounts and wallets of the bank’s customers.
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Published: 24 Feb 2024, 11:07 AM IST
