Strangling digital payments: RBI's e-wallet KYC norms are too restrictive

The thinking behind the RBI's action is clear, albeit faulty

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may be close to making a major policy error — the sort that could encourage monopoly formation and that has, in the past, seriously held back the growth of India’s digital payments infrastructure. In October last year, the RBI announced revised guidelines for “prepaid payment instruments”, or PPIs. As the February-end deadline for meeting the norms nears, digital wallet companies may be staring at the end of the road. Under these new and much more restrictive norms, PPIs, which include mobile wallets such as Mobikwik and Paytm as well as other enablers of digital