UPI transactions limit raised to ₹10,000 for 123Pay, ₹5,000 for UPI Lite

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today announced an increase in the limits for UPI transactions. UPI123 was introduced in March 2022 to allow users of feature phones to access UPI services. The per transaction limit for UPI 123Pay transactions has been raised to ₹10,000 from ₹5,000, while the UPI Lite wallet limit has been adjusted to ₹5,000 from ₹2,000, with the per-transaction limit also increased to ₹1,000 from ₹500, according to the central bank’s statement.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das stated that this enhancement aims to promote broader acceptance of UPI and ensure inclusivity.

Additionally, the RBI states that payment systems like UPI and IMPS provide a facility that allows remitters to verify the name of the recipient before completing a transaction in the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) systems. To tackle this issue, a 'beneficiary account name look-up facility' is proposed to allow remitters in RTGS and NEFT to verify the name of the beneficiary account holder before proceeding with a funds transfer, and enabling remitters to input the account number and branch IFSC code to display the beneficiary's name.

This feature is expected to enhance customer confidence by minimising errors and reducing the risk of fraud. Detailed guidelines regarding this facility will be issued later, the central bank adds.

In addition, RBI states that climate change is becoming a major threat to the financial system, making it essential for regulated entities to conduct climate risk assessments to maintain the stability of their balance sheets and the overall financial system. These assessments require high-quality data related to local climate scenarios, forecasts, and emissions. However, the current climate-related data is often incomplete, with fragmented sources, inconsistent formats, and varying frequencies. To address these shortcomings, the central bank plans to establish a data repository called the ‘Reserve Bank – Climate Risk Information System’ (RB-CRIS), which will consist of two components.

The first component of RB-CRIS will be a publicly accessible web-based directory that lists various data sources, including meteorological and geospatial data, on the RBI website. The second component will be a data portal containing datasets in standardised formats, accessible only to the regulated entities in a phased rollout.

In 2022, the first set of guidelines was issued for issuing and regulating share capital and securities for Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks (UCBs) to align with the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2020. However, these guidelines did not address newly introduced capital-related provisions, such as the issuance of special shares and shares at a premium, which are novel for the co-operative banking sector. The Expert Committee on Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks was chaired by former RBI Deputy Governor Shri N.S. Vishwanathan.

To implement the Expert Committee's recommendations, the RBI formed a Working Group tasked with operationalising the newly enabled capital-related provisions. Following the Working Group's recommendations, a Discussion Paper on Capital Raising Avenues for Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks will be released to gather feedback and suggestions from stakeholders.