New Delhi, Feb 26 (KNN) Giving a big relief to online payment companies, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the deadline for full KYC compliance by six months for Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs).

In a notification, RBI said “Based on requests received from various stakeholders to increase the above timeline on account of difficulties in undertaking Aadhaar e-KYC and time necessary to put in place alternative systems for completing the KYC process, it has been decided to allow PPI issuers additional time of six months for completion of the KYC process.”

The central bank had mandated the prepaid payment instrument (PPI) providers and online wallet companies to complete their KYC process by February 28, 2019.

Last year Supreme Court passed a verdict according to which private entities have been barred from using Aadhaar card for KYC authentication purposes.

The verdict struck down section 57 of the Aadhaar Act which allows the use of the Aadhaar number for establishing the identity of an individual for any purpose—whether by the State or any corporate or person.

Due to this, private companies lost the authority to access Aadhaar details of the users.

Based on the requests of various stakeholders to increase the above timeline, the RBI has now extended the deadline. (KNN/YV)