(This story originally appeared in on Apr 22, 2024)(You can now subscribe to our(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channelBengaluru: The Reserve Bank of India has directed all regulated payment companies to track highvalue or suspicious transactions during the course of general elections, according to multiple senior executives in the know.In a letter dated April 15, the RBI asked payment system operators (PSOs) to prevent any potential misuse of electronic fund transfer mechanisms to influence voters or indirectly fund candidates who are participating in the elections.ET has seen a copy of the letter.“The regulator wants payment companies to track high-value merchant payments specifically.
Also recurring person-to-person payments can be brought under scrutiny,” one of the executives cited above said.Fintech companies like Razorpay, Cashfree, CCAvenue and Mswipe are all regulated payment aggregators while others such as PhonePe and MobiKwik are mobile wallet licence holders.The central bank has cited concerns raised by the Election Commission of India, the apex body conducting the elections, in its directive.It also asked payment companies to track dubious transactions and report them to the relevant authorities.Historically, cash in circulation has gone up during elections.
And, the RBI has typically instructed banks to monitor movement of cash.However, industry insiders said this is one of the first instances where the regulator has called out payment companies and asked them to track digital payment movement.Given the wide-scale adoption of digital payments and popularity of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and card payments, the regulator wants these channels to be monitored too.
(This story originally appeared in on Apr 22, 2024)
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
Bengaluru: The Reserve Bank of India has directed all regulated payment companies to track highvalue or suspicious transactions during the course of general elections, according to multiple senior executives in the know.In a letter dated April 15, the RBI asked payment system operators (PSOs) to prevent any potential misuse of electronic fund transfer mechanisms to influence voters or indirectly fund candidates who are participating in the elections.ET has seen a copy of the letter.“The regulator wants payment companies to track high-value merchant payments specifically. Also recurring person-to-person payments can be brought under scrutiny,” one of the executives cited above said.Fintech companies like Razorpay, Cashfree, CCAvenue and Mswipe are all regulated payment aggregators while others such as PhonePe and MobiKwik are mobile wallet licence holders.The central bank has cited concerns raised by the Election Commission of India, the apex body conducting the elections, in its directive.It also asked payment companies to track dubious transactions and report them to the relevant authorities.Historically, cash in circulation has gone up during elections. And, the RBI has typically instructed banks to monitor movement of cash.However, industry insiders said this is one of the first instances where the regulator has called out payment companies and asked them to track digital payment movement.Given the wide-scale adoption of digital payments and popularity of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and card payments, the regulator wants these channels to be monitored too.
