The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on October 16, 2018 issued a set of guidelines for interoperability of PPIs. The guidelines are issued under Section 18 read with Section 10(2) of the Payment and Settlements Act, 2007. PPI issuers who choose to adopt interoperability shall adhere to these guidelines along with the Master Direction[1].
- Common requirements for achieving interoperability for wallets and cards
- Where the PPIs are issued in form of online wallets, interoperability shall be facilitated through UPI and where PPIs is issued through a card, the cards shall be affiliated to authorised card networks. Option of interoperability has also been provided to PPI issuers operating in segment of meal, gift and mass transit system (MTS).
- The interoperability shall be facilitated to all KYC compliant PPI account and entire acceptance infrastructure.
- Technical Requirement: While facilitating interoperability the PPI issuer shall comply and adhere to all requirements of respective card networks and UPI, including adherence to various standards, technical requirement specific to a payment system, certification, audit and etc.
- Further the PPI issuers will have to comply with mechanism established for reconciliation, grievance redressal and consumer protection by UPI and specific card networks.
- Specific Requirements for achieving interoperability through card networks
- Card networks are allowed to integrate PPI issuers on their network. Further the non-banking PPI issuers are allowed to join card networks as members or associate members.
- Settlement: For the purpose of settlement, Non-banking PPI issuer may directly participate in the card network or through a sponsor bank arrangement while adhering to requirements of the specific card network which it is a member of.
- Safety and Security
- Non-banking PPI issuers will be issuing interoperable cards for the first time and therefore they shall make sure that the cards have an EMV chip and are PIN compliant.
- Banks shall ensure that while issuing new PPIs and renewing the old PPIs, the cards shall have EMV and shall be PIN compliant.
- If a PPI issuer in the meal segment intends to facilitate interoperability, it shall also issue EMV chip and PIN compliant cards, whereas it is not compulsory for PPI issuers in the gift cards and MTS segment to have EMV chip and PIN.
- Specific requirements for achieving interoperability through UPI
- PPI issuers will operate as payment system providers (PSP) in the UPI network. National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) will provide all the PPI issuers, including non-banking PPI issuers a platform for linking their respective PPI holders/users to the platform to facilitate interoperability. The platform issued will use UPI to provide such Interoperability.
- The PPI issuers as PSPs are only allowed to integrate their PPI holders/users and shall not on board PPI holders/users of other PPI issuers or customers of banks.
- Any interoperable transaction will be approved as per the credentials of an individual’s online wallet before the same transaction reaches UPI network.
- Settlement: Non-banking PPI issuer can directly settle a payment though a sponsor bank. Non-banking PPI issuers shall adhere to the requirements of sponsor bank in the UPI network and shall also comply with requirements stipulated by NPCI.
Source: https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=11142
[1] https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=11142