PPI rapidly catching on as a bottom-of-the-pyramid transaction system

In the excitement over the allocation of bank licences for the private sector, a new category of licence offered by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last year went almost unnoticed. That was when the RBI consolidated the rules for prepaid payment instruments (PPI), popularly understood as e-wallets or gift cards. 

In the process, the regulator has fast-forwarded a bottom-up card usage industry in India that is completely different from the world of bank-linked credit and debit cards. 

These PPI options are fast becoming the cards of choice for the vast majority of Indians as per capita income creeps upwards.