The revised wallet guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are out. The guidelines brought much cheer from the wallet players for allowing interoperability. However, a cloud hung over most players due to the increased KYC norms. Here are some of the responses to the guidelines: Ramki Gaddipati, co-founder, and CTO of Zeta Gaddipati said that the cost of operating a wallet is going to be substantially higher. "There is going to be an increase in regulatory compliance and the compliance burden is going to raise substantially when it comes to KYC, operating the system, and what needs to be done when a customer needs to close their wallet. There is a substantial overhead that the guidelines introduce," he said. "I can understand that for the industry, KYC is going to be a big burden, also the immediate change from Rs 20,000 to Rs 10,000. This was something that most people weren’t expecting," he added. On interoperability, Gaddipati expects a consolidation in the number of players in the industry with the UPI being enabled for wallets. "I think this is long overdue. I don’t see why 15 wallets need to go to the same merchant and ask them to add the details of those prepaid instruments. I think it’s just pointless and I’ve tried talking to several industry players as well. It had a basis back when it was relevant back then. In recent years, the digital push given by the government, this has been the biggest hurdle. Having eliminated that, I…
