Mumbai: Customers can now transact up to Rs 2,500 a transaction and a maximum of Rs 5,000 a day using mobile phones, provided they hold a debit or credit card. Also, a bank can offer mobile banking services only after it obtains approval from the Reserve Bank of India.
In the final guidelines on mobile banking transactions, issued on Friday, RBI set limits for single and daily transactions through mobile phones and also laid down rules for tracking suspicious transactions through mobiles.
Banks that wish to provide mobile banking services should seek a prior one-time approval of the RBI by furnishing full details of the proposal. Only banks that have implemented core banking services will be allowed to provide the services, said RBI.
Recognising the need for mobile phones as a delivery channel, RBI said, “The rapid growth in users and wider coverage of mobile phone networks have made this channel an important platform for extending banking services to customers.”
Banks should file Suspected Transaction Report (STR) to Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FID-IND) for mobile banking transactions, similar to normal banking transactions, RBI said.
Banks should ensure that customers having mobile phones of any network operator are able to avail the service.
The long-term goal of mobile banking is to enable funds transfer from account in one bank to any other account in the same or any other bank on a real time basis, irrespective of the mobile network of the customer.
This would require inter-operability between mobile banking service providers and banks and development of a host of message formats. To ensure inter-operability between banks and their mobile banking service providers, banks should adopt message formats such as ISO 8583, with suitable modification to address specific needs, RBI said.
