Mobile wallet-to-wallet transactions could soon be a reality, with the Reserve Bank of India saying that interoperability amongst KYC-compliant Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) will be implemented within six months.
The Master Directions in this regard will be issued by the bank on October 11, 2017, RBI said, adding that interoperability between mobile wallets will be allowed within the next six months.
The measure, once implemented, will remove what has perhaps been the biggest hurdle with digital payments. A Paytm user, for instance, can only send or receive funds to another Paytm user, but not to say, a FreeCharge or MobiKwik user.
With the guidelines to make inter-wallet transactions expected in six months, this anomaly will be removed and users will be able to transfer money from one wallets to another as per requirement.
Mobile wallet companies have welcomed RBI’s move saying it will increase adoption of digital payments in the country.
Bipin Preet Singh, Founder and CEO of MobiKwik, said that interoperability was one of the key challenges in increasing the adoption of digital payments in India. “RBI’s latest direction in this regard will provide a homogenous environment for the growth of mobile wallets,” he said.
The move would mean that users will no longer have to download multiple payment wallet apps since a single payment wallet can now suffice for payment across the PPI network.
Kiran Vasireddy, Chief Operating Officer of Paytm, said this would act as a strong boost for digital payments ecosystem in India.
The RBI said revised framework will pave the way for inter-operability into usage of PPIs, as per the vision for Payment and Settlement Systems in the country. The vision envisages for India to migrate to electronic payments and ensure that such payments are safe, secure, authorised, efficient and accessible.
