Reserve Bank of India: In exercise of its powers under Section 35-A of Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the Reserve Bank of India, gave following directions to the Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (‘PPBL’):
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No further deposits or credit transactions or top ups shall be allowed in any customer accounts, prepaid instruments, wallets, FASTags, NCMC cards, etc. after 29-02-2024, other than any interest, cashbacks, or refunds which may be credited anytime.
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Withdrawal or utilisation of balances by its customers from their accounts including savings bank accounts, current accounts, prepaid instruments, FASTags, National Common Mobility Cards, etc. are permitted without any restrictions, upto their available balance.
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No other banking services, other than those referred in (ii) above, like fund transfers (irrespective of name and nature of services like AEPS, IMPS, etc.), BBPOU and UPI facility should be provided by the bank after 29-02-2024.
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The Nodal Accounts of One97 Communications Ltd. and Paytm Payments Services Ltd. are to be terminated at the earliest, in any case not later than 29-02-2024.
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Settlement of all pipeline transactions and nodal accounts (in respect of all transactions initiated on or before 29-02-2024) shall be completed by 15-02-2024 and no further transactions shall be permitted thereafter.
The said restrictions came after the comprehensive system audit report and subsequent compliance validation report of the external auditors revealed persistent non-compliances and continued material supervisory concerns in the PPBL, warranting further supervisory action.
Earlier, on 11-03-2022, the RBI had directed PPBL to stop onboarding new customers with immediate effect.
