IMPS transaction limit raised to Rs 5 lakh; framework for retail digital payments in offline modes soon: Shaktikanta Das

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das has announced that the limit of the Immediate Payment Service Transaction (IMPS) has been raised from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. He said that this move was important as IMPS plays an important role in instant domestic fund transfers while ensuring consumer convenience at the same time.
 
“Immediate Payments Service (IMPS) offers instant domestic funds transfer facility 24x7 through various channels. In view of the importance of the IMPS system and for enhanced consumer convenience, it is proposed to increase the per-transaction limit from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh”, the RBI Governor said.
 
He further mentioned that the central bank has proposed to unveil a framework for retail digital payments in offline mode all over India in line with a similar scheme announced in August last year.  
 
“Given the encouraging experience gained from the pilot tests, it is proposed to introduce a framework for retail digital payments in offline mode across the country. This will further expand the reach of digital payments and open up new opportunites for individuals and businesses,” the RBI boss noted.
 
In order to encourage online payments, the RBI has proposed to introduce a plan for utilising geo-tagging to capture the exact location information on existing and new payments acceptance (PA) infrastructure – Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, Quick Response (QR) codes, etc.  
 
This, according to Das, would complement the Reserve Bank’s Payment Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) framework in ensuring deployment of PA infrastructure in more and more geographies.
 
In addition to its cohorts on ‘Retail Payments’, ‘Cross Border Payments’, and ‘MSME Lending’, the RBI has announced a cohort on ‘Prevention and Mitigation of financial frauds’ to provide further impetus to the emerging fintech scene in India.

Edited by Mehak Agarwal

Also read: RBI keeps repo rate unchanged, maintains accommodative stance

Also read: MPC meet: RBI projects FY22 GDP growth at 9.5%