RBI Introduces Stricter Pointers for Aadhaar Enabled Fee System to Fight Fraud, ETCFO

In a transfer geared toward strengthening the safety of Aadhaar Enabled Fee System (AePS) transactions and curbing rising situations of fraud, the Reserve Financial institution of India (RBI) has issued new tips to streamline the onboarding and monitoring of AePS touchpoint operators. Banks and the Nationwide Funds Company of India (NPCI) have been directed to make sure compliance inside three months from the issuance date.

The brand new norms require buying banks to conduct rigorous due diligence of AePS touchpoint operators—equivalent to Enterprise Correspondents (BCs) and Financial institution Mitras—on the time of onboarding, according to the KYC procedures specified by the RBI’s Grasp Path on Know Your Buyer (KYC), 2016. Additional, operators who’ve been inactive for greater than six months might be required to endure KYC updates earlier than they will resume operations.

The directives

To forestall misuse and guarantee accountability, every AePS touchpoint operator will now be allowed to work with just one buying financial institution. Each NPCI and buying banks are answerable for imposing this one-operator-one-bank rule.

The RBI has additionally mandated ongoing monitoring of operator exercise. Banks should set transaction limits primarily based on the operator’s danger profile and be sure that transaction patterns align with the operator’s registered location. This transfer goals to detect anomalies in real-time and cut back the scope for fraudulent exercise by means of compromised identities or misused credentials.

The RBI’s newest directive follows a spate of AePS-related frauds involving id theft and credential compromise, which have raised issues over the protection of this extensively used monetary inclusion platform. AePS permits interoperable transactions by means of Aadhaar authentication, and is important for money withdrawals, steadiness enquiries, and different fundamental banking companies, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas.

All AePS system contributors at the moment are required to stick to operational guidelines and tips issued by NPCI, the designated system supplier for AePS, underneath the Fee and Settlement Programs Act, 2007.

These instructions shall come into impact from January 01, 2026.

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