RBI hikes UPI transaction limit for hospitals and educational institutions
RBI has increased the e-mandate limit for recurring online transactions for mutual fund subscription, insurance premium subscription and credit card repayments from ₹15,000 to ₹1 lakh per transaction.
The Reserve Bank of India has increased the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) payment limit for hospitals and educational institutions from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh per transaction.
This was announced by Governor Shaktikanta Das while unveiling the December bi-monthly monetary policy.
He said, “The increased limit will help consumers make higher volumes of UPI payments for education and healthcare purposes.”
E-Mandate for recurring transactions
The limit for e-mandate for recurring online transactions was also raised to ₹1 lakh.
Under the e-mandate framework, an additional factor of authentication (AFA) is currently required for recurring transactions above ₹15,000.
This is now being raised to ₹1 lakh for mutual fund investments, insurance premium payments and credit card payments.
“E-mandates have become popular among customers for making payments of recurring nature. It is now proposed to raise this limit to ₹1 lakh per transaction for recurring payments of mutual fund subscriptions, insurance premium subscriptions and credit card repayments,” the governor said.
He said the measure would further accelerate the use of e-mandates.
RBI proposes to set up ‘Fintech Repository’
In another development, RBI also announced setting up a “Fintech Repository” for better understanding of developments in the fintech ecosystem and to support the sector.
“It will be operationalised by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub on or before April 2024. Fintechs will be encouraged to voluntarily provide relevant information to this repository,” Mr. Das said.
Financial entities such as banks and NBFCs in India are increasingly partnering with fintechs.
Mr. Das also said the central bank is working on setting up a cloud facility for the financial sector in India.
“Banks and financial entities are maintaining an ever-increasing volume of data. Many of them are using cloud facilities for this purpose,” he said.
“Adding such a facility will enhance data security, integrity and confidentiality. It will also facilitate better scalability and business continuity,” he said.
Mr. Das said the cloud facility is intended to be rolled out in a calibrated manner over the medium term.