Finally. Over two years ago, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) put into cold storage, a Paypal-like service from by the Times of India Group called Wallet365. Wallet365 was essentially a pre-paid transaction instrument, much like Cash Card services like Itz Cash Card and Done Card, though with an Internet Wallet, you can withdraw money as well. There were concerns that you could start an account with just an email address, and Know Your Customer (KYC) norms were not being followed. More on why and how the RBI stopped the service, here. Now RBI has finally taken up issue of "Pre-paid instruments": they've published an "Approach Paper" and invited comments regarding "smart cards, magnetic stripe cards, internet accounts, internet wallets, internet purse, mobile accounts, mobile wallets, mobile purse and paper vouchers." We went through the Approach Paper, and noticed some issues: -- Not keen on Internet Banking? The RBI don't appear to be very keen on Internet Wallets, though - to begin with, only banks will be permitted to transfer funds online or using mobile phone networks. -- Limiting Use Of Cash Cards: Semi-Closed System Payment Instruments (Cash Cards) up to Rs 500 may be to be issued without any KYC subject to reporting of annual/suspicious transactions. Which means cash cards above Rs. 500 will require KYC verification. Remember that the average transaction amount for railway tickets using cash cards in August was Rs. 889.96, and a large number of users who don't have bank accounts will be affected. -- Limiting Reloading Of Cash Cards: Semi-Closed System Payment Instruments (Cash…
