In its detailed Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Friday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified the operations over FASTag, and the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) issued by the Paytm Payments Bank.
For the FASTag issued by Paytm Payments Bank, users can continue to use your FASTag to pay toll upto the available balance. However, no further funding or top ups will be allowed in the FASTags issued by Paytm Payments Bank after March 15, 2024.
Further, after the said deadline, users will not be able to top-up or recharge FASTag issued by Paytm Payments Bank.
It is suggested that you procure a new FASTag issued by another bank before March 15, 2024 to avoid any inconvenience, the RBI suggested.
Notably, the users cannot transfer the balance from old FASTag issued by Paytm Payments Bank to a new FASTag obtained from another Bank.
Credit balance transfer feature is not available in the FASTag product. Therefore, they need to close the old FASTag issued by Paytm Payments Bank and request the bank for a refund.
Users can continue to use NCMC card upto the available balance. However, they will not be able to load or top up funds into the card after March 15, 2024.
RBI suggested that in order to avoid inconvenience, they should obtain an NCMC card issued by another bank or non-bank pre-paid instrument (PPI) issuer, before the deadline.
Since balance transfer feature is not available in the NCMC card, users may request Paytm Payments Bank for a refund.
Notably, the business restriction dated March 11, 2022, prohibiting Paytm Payments Bank from onboarding any new customers for any of its services continues to be in force.
Hence, Paytm Payments Bank cannot onboard any new customers after March 11, 2022.