New KYC norms may leave wallets of digital money players lighter

Many industry insiders believe the new guidelines would take away transactional convenience of PPIs

The roller coaster ride continues for digital money players. From an initial high of more than 450 million new customers soon after demonetisation, many are staring at a massive loss of user base, thanks to the new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines prepaid payment instruments (PPIs).

On Wednesday, the RBI issued a series of guidelines, setting a road map for full operability between all Know Your Customer (KYC)-compliant wallets. However, if existing PPI customers did not share KYC details by the year-end, they would be converted to the minimum-slab PPI holders by January next year.

Digital transaction players are