The RBI has new “ Guidelines for Prepaid Instruments for Mass Transit System “. This is like telling people now, in 2015, that you are allowed to wear a seat belt inside a car. (Meaning: we’re doing it already!) Mass transit systems like the Mumbai railways, the Delhi Metro or even the tiny little Bangalore Metro have had prepaid cards or tickets for a very very long time. Bangalore’s bus system thrives on multiple layers of prepaid tickets (monthly, weekly, daily!). Season passes for many commute types have been available forever, so why these rules? Because RBI says the word “semi closed”. The Mass Transit system (like Railways) can have other merchants on their platforms, where you could potentially use the card to make payments. I presume this is for purchasing food or water from the platform vendors, for instance. Here’s the rules: The semi-closed PPIs will be issued by the mass transit system operator (PPI-MTS) after authorisation under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 to issue and operate such semi-closed PPIs; The PPI-MTS will necessarily contain the Automated Fare Collection application related to the transit service to qualify as PPI-MTS; Apart from the mass transit system, such PPI-MTS can be used only at other merchants whose activities are allied to or are carried on within the premises of the transit system ; The PPI-MTS issuer will ensure on-boarding of merchants (only those permissible as under (iii) above) following due procedure applicable to any other PPI issuer; The PPI-MTS will have minimum validity of six months from the date of issue; The issuer may decide upon the desired level of KYC, if any, for such PPIs; The PPI-MTS issued may be reloadable in nature and at no point of time the value / balance in PPI can exceed the limit of Rs. … (Read On…)
[via Capital MindCapital Mind]
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