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The Reserve Bank of India last week set maximum limits for prepaid products in new guidelines for the country's prepaid issuers. The maximum value of any prepaid instrument, including smart cards, magnetic stripe cards, Internet accounts, mobile accounts, mobile wallets and prepaid vouchers, cannot exceed 50,000 rupees (US$1,000 or 756 euros), according to the guidelines. All prepaid instruments also must be valid for no less than six months. The increasing popularity of prepaid products forced the bank to set guidelines for the first time, according to a statement. The bank, however, did not say how many such products are used in India. According to the central bank, proposed guidelines first were released for public comment in November. The bank based the final guidelines on comments received from banks, existing issuers of prepaid payment products and the general public. Other than banks and nonbank financial companies, companies wanting to offer prepaid products must have a minimum paid-up capital of 10 million rupees, according to the bank. Under another guideline, the amount stored on prepaid products must be equal to the value paid by the holder either in cash or through credit and debit cards.
