“Mobile wallets” bubble likely to burst soon – Here’s why

Hyderabad: After demonetization, India witnessed a rise in the number of mobile wallets and its users. Cashback and attractive offers provided by PayTM, PhonePe, Amazon Pay etc also played a key role. However, this bubble may burst soon.

According to the report published in The News Minute, the wallets’ providers must conclude KYC verification of their customers before 28th February 2019. Till now, KYC verification of 70% of the PayTM customers is completed. However, as per the RBI directive, it should be 100% before the deadline.

After the Supreme Court’s judgment in Aadhaar case, digital wallet companies have to explore other options including physical verification. However, the cost involved in physical verification would be too high. Alternate methods such as video-based or an XML-based verification were suggested but none got approved by RBI.

The only option left for mobile wallet companies is legislation but the budget session will start in February.