Good news! Your card transactions in contactless mode, e-Mandates for recurring transactions hiked to Rs 5000 by RBI

With a view to push the adoption of digital payments in a “safe and secure manner”, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today increased the limits for contactless card transactions and e-mandates for recurring transactions through cards (and UPI) from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000. This will come into effect form 1 January 2021. The operational instructions will be issued separately. 

The announcement was made during the December bimonthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announcements by Governor Shaktikanta Das.  

“Contactless card transactions and e-mandates on cards (and UPI) for recurring transactions have enhanced customer convenience in general while benefitting from increased use of technology,” the Governor said today in his MPC speech. 

“These are also well-suited to make payments in a safe and secure manner, especially during the current pandemic. The recent instructions on disablement of contactless feature on cards and empowering customers to control the limits on their cards have also brought in added safety for users,” Das further said. 

This was the last monetary policy announcement of 2020. The banking regulator today kept the key policy rates unchanged while giving a revised GDP growth projection for the financial year 2020-21. The Governor said that the RBI estimated the real GDP growth at (-) 7.5 per cent in 2020-21, which was revised from its October estimates of (-) 9.5 per cent. 

MPC voted unanimously to leave the policy repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent while maintaining the status quo on the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank rate at 4.25 per cent. The reverse repo rate stands unchanged at 3.35 per cent. 

The RBI has also maintained its accommodative stance of monetary policy for as long as necessary, at least through the current financial year and into the next year, Das today said during the announcement. 

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While the CPI inflation rose sharply to 7.3 per cent in September and further to 7.6 per cent in October 2020, the CPI inflation is projected at 6.8 per cent for Q3 2020-21, 5.8 per cent for Q4 of 2020-21 and 5.2 to 4.6 per cent in H1 2021-22, the Governor said.