Mumbai, Dec 8: The RBI made a significant decision on Friday by increasing the UPI payment limit for hospitals and educational institutions to Rs 5 lakh, up from the existing Rs 1 lakh. Additionally, the cap for e-mandates for recurring payments has been raised to Rs 1 lakh. Governor Shaktikanta Das, unveiling the December bi-monthly monetary policy, noted that the limits for various categories of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions have been periodically reviewed.
Das stated, “It is now proposed to enhance the UPI transaction limit for payment to hospitals and educational institutions from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per transaction.” This increase is expected to facilitate higher UPI payments for education and healthcare purposes.
He also highlighted the popularity of e-mandates for recurring payments, stating, “It is now proposed to enhance this limit to Rs 1 lakh per transaction for recurring payments of mutual fund subscriptions, insurance premium subscriptions, and credit card repayments.” This move aims to further boost the usage of e-mandates.
In another development, the RBI announced the establishment of a “Fintech Repository” to better understand fintech ecosystem developments and provide support to the sector. Governor Das mentioned that this repository, operationalized by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub, is expected to be in place by April 2024 or earlier. FinTechs are encouraged to voluntarily contribute relevant information to this repository.
Additionally, the RBI is working on establishing a cloud facility for the financial sector in India. As banks and financial entities handle increasing volumes of data, the cloud facility is intended to enhance data security, integrity, privacy, scalability, and business continuity. The rollout of the cloud facility is planned in a calibrated fashion over the medium term.
