RBI ups m-wallet limit

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the amount the public can store in their mobile wallets (m-wallet) to 50 000 rupees from the current 5 000 rupees, reports The Mobile Indian.

The central bank has also relaxed the daily transaction limit for this growing segment.

Through a notification, RBI revealed the move attributing it to “the potential of such mobile-based prepaid instruments for promoting non-cash based transactions and the interest evinced by non-bank entities in promoting these products”.

However, Media Nama reveals that two conditions remain - these wallets cannot be purchased or reloaded against airtime but can be used to buy recharges and can only be used to allow purchase of goods and services, not person-to-person transfer of value.

According to Techcircle, in the previous guidelines, the RBI had stated that the value of individual payment instrument shall not exceed 5 000 rupees.

The RBI notification has also decided to bring semi-closed m-wallets on par with the other semi-closed prepaid instruments.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone have already tied up with SBI and ICICI Bank respectively to offer such facilities to their subscribers. It is also worth noting that RBI's move to relax the m-banking service comes after intense lobbying by telecom service providers and banks.