Last month, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has received the go-ahead from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to launch semi-closed prepaid wallet (PPI/wallet). It is now among the 84 entities that currently have an operational PPI/wallet license. According to a note from the RBI, the license has been taken for a prepaid payment instrument (PPI) for Mass Transit Systems. As far as we know, it is the only entity to have a mass transit wallet despite the fact that the RBI had set guidelines for the same back in July 2015. The instrument will allow users to load Rs 2,000 and have a minimum validity period of six months from the date of issue. But it's usage will, however, be limited to mostly stations. From the guidelines: The instrument can also be used at other merchants whose activities are allied to or are carried on within the premises of the issuing mass transit system. An example: The Delhi Metro could issue a wallet service which can be used to buy food at the food stalls in the station. The DMRC reported a total cumulative ridership of 1.001 billion for the 12 month period ended 31st March 2017 (FY17), growing 6.56% in average daily ridership year on year. In FY16, it reported around Rs 1649 crores in revenues from fares, for which the cards would have been used (download annual report: PDF, 61 mb). Given the usage, imagine if the same RFID card can be used for pay for more than…
