RBI Monetary Policy: Central Bank Enhances E-RUPI Voucher Limit To Rs 1 Lakh, Allows Multiple Uses

India’s central bank will raise the limit for digital vouchers issued by governments, paving the way to transfer more benefits to the public.

The Reserve Bank of India will enhance the maximum limit of e-RUPI vouchers—a cashless and contactless instrument for digital payment—to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 10,000, it said in a statement on development and regulatory policies.

The banking regulator also allowed multiple uses of a single voucher till the balance is exhausted. Earlier, e-RUPI was a one-time voucher.

The person-specific prepaid digital voucher issued by states and the central government was launched in August last year. It works on the Unified Payments Interface platform of the National Payments Corporation of India. The vouchers are largely being used by governments for Covid-19 vaccinations.

“There are other use cases being actively considered by various state government and central government ministries/departments,” the RBI said in its statement.

Currently, 16 banks act as issuers, while eight banks are acquirers in the e-RUPI ecosystem, according to information available on the NPCI website.

The announcement came along with the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to maintain status quo on repo and reverse repo rates. It also retained its accommodative stance.