The Reserve Bank of India vide its notification dated 28th July 2021 has allowed non-banks to participate in its Centralised Payment Systems (CPS) through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) systems, in a phased manner.
Non-banks include entities like Payment System Providers (PSPs) and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) that are regulated by Reserve Bank as also entities that are under the remit of other financial sector regulators like PFRDA, IRDAI, SEBI, etc.
The Access to non-banks in CPS will be enabled in a phased manner and in the first phase only the following authorised non-bank PSPs shall be provided access –
- Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) Issuers;
- Card Networks; and
- White Label ATM Operators.
For access to CPS the non-bank PSPs shall have a Valid Certificate of Authorisation (CoA) from Reserve Bank under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act) and a Net-worth of ₹25 crore or as prescribed as per CoA, whichever is higher and it shall be Incorporated in India under the Companies Act, 1956 / 2013.
Entities not fulfilling this requirement shall empower their Indian subsidiary / associate to enter into valid agreements with RBI.
Entities incorporated outside India shall empower their local offices to carry out all operations in respect of CPS, but the responsibility for all operations and management of any contingency, including settlement obligations, shall remain with the foreign parent institution, which has taken authorisation as PSP.
The Non-bank entities shall choose the type of access to the RTGS system, i.e., SFMS member interface, Web service interface or Payment originator module through INFINET, as per their convenience and requirement in consultation with Indian Financial Technology & Allied Services (IFTAS) and Reserve Bank.
