RBI allows banks to issue prepaid wallets for public transport systems

The Reserve Bank of India has permitted authorised banks and non-banks to issue prepaid payment wallets for usage in public transport systems.

In a notification issued today, the central bank amended its norms on issuance of prepaid wallets to allow special wallets to be issued for tickets in public transport systems.

“Public transport systems across the country cater to a multitude of commuters on a daily basis. To provide convenience, speed, affordability, and safety of digital modes of payment to commuters for transit services, it has been decided to permit authorised bank and non-bank PPI issuers to issue PPIs for making payments across various public transport systems,” the RBI said today.


These payment wallets will be usable at automatic fare collection systems, for parking payments, toll collection and others.

The regulator has put a cap of Rs 3,000 on these wallets and they will not need separate KYC for the same. These wallets can only be used for payments in buses, metro, waterways, toll payments, parking payments and such.