Ashneer Grover slams RBI

Ashneer Grover, who was fired by fintech platform BharatPe along with his wife Madhuri Jain Grover for alleged financial irregularities, has slammed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its latest directive to non-bank prepaid payment instruments to stop loading credit lines onto their products.

"It's a flex move by banks -- rent seeking. But market is market and regulation will eventually come around to what market needs," he added.

The RBI has prohibited non-bank PPIs from loading credit in its latest one-page circular, and several such startups and firms have already stopped customers' transactions on their prepaid cards to avoid penalties. Among the banking, PPIs are HDFC Flexipay, ICICI PayLater, HDFC Payzapp, SBI YONO, and others, as well as several UPI-driven platforms such as Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay, among others.

"The PPI-MD (PPI-master direction) does not permit loading of PPIs from credit lines. Such practice, if followed, should be stopped immediately. Any non-compliance in this regard may attract penal action under provisions contained in the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007," according to the RBI directive.