NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, March 13, 2017

In a bid to make transactions through e-wallets safer and strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism for consumers, government has released a set of guidelines for wallet firms.

The draft Information Technology (Security of Prepaid Payment Instruments) Rules 2017 which have been released for public consultation by the ministry of electronics and IT cover an entire spectrum such as protecting consumer information, especially financial data.

The Rules mandate that each Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) company or wallet firm will have a privacy policy posted on its website. It will also have to appoint a chief grievance officer, the contact details of whom will have to be prominently displayed on the website.

The grievance officer will have to “act upon” any complaint within 36 hours and “close” it in a month’s time. The draft also mandate that companies have enough safeguards in place to avoid any hacking attacks and if there is one, it is to be swiftly reported to the government.

“Every e-PPI issuer shall have in place and publish on its website and mobile applications the privacy policy and the terms and conditions for use of the payment systems operated by it in simple language, capable of being understood by a reasonable person,” said the draft.