RBI enhances cap on amount for e-RUPI vouchers from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday proposed to increase the cap on the amount for e-RUPI vouchers from Rs 10,000 currently to Rs 1,00,000 so as to enhance the scope of application of these vouchers and facilitate faster delivery of various government services to beneficiaries efficiently.

Further, it said, the e-RUPI vouchers can be used multiple times, until the amount on the voucher is completely redeemed. Currently, each voucher can be redeemed only once. The RBI will issue necessary instructions in this regard to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

“This will further facilitate the delivery of various government schemes to the beneficiaries more efficiently,” RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said in his statement.

Launched in August 2021, e-RUPI, currently, is a one-time use digital solution to facilitate cashless payment which is person and purpose specific for various services like the covid vaccinations, donations, corporate gift vouchers, etc. e-RUPI can be issued only by banks authorised by RBI to issue Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) and who are participating as Payment Service Providers (PSP) in the UPI ecosystem.

e-RUPI vouchers are presently being used largely for Covid-19 vaccination purposes. There are other use cases being actively considered by various state governments and central government ministries and departments, the RBI said.

“The increase of the cap on e-Rupi vouchers from the present Rs 10,000 to Rs 100,000 is a significant jump, and it appears that the purpose is to address some practical issues with the lower current cap, and to broaden the applicability to a much larger set of use-cases which can involve amounts all the way up to Rs 100,000,” said Harish Prasad, head of banking, India, FIS.

With expansion of e-Rupi acceptance, this also has the potential to make inroads into certain areas addressed by gift-cards and it would be interesting to watch out for a possible link, at some point, between the proposed Digital Rupee and the e-Rupi programs, Prasad said.

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