Soon, you’ll be able to pay on MobiKwik via Paytm wallet and vice-versa. Here’s how

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has some good news for digital wallets. In the backdrop of rising popularity of Unified Payment Interface (UPI), or payment through digital wallets, the RBI has decided to make digital wallets inter-operable.

At present, digital wallets such as Paytm, MobiKwik, PhonePe, etc can access the UPI network through partner banks to facilitate bank-to-bank money transfers.

Once the RBI gives a nod to inter-operation of digital wallets, you will be able to send money directly to Paytm from your FreeCharge wallet and vice-versa.

“RBI is expected to issue guidelines shortly on interoperability and 'know your customer' (KYC) norms for digital wallet companies. RBI will also decide on the interchange fees between the wallets for them to be able to access the UPI framework,” ET quoted two people as saying.

Online money transfer and payments are gaining popularity in India and the Indian Government is also pushing for Aadhaar-based payment platform and another instrument for transactions using QR codes.

Bipin Preet Singh, chief executive of MobiKwik, told ET, “The company is keen to partner with other financial networks to develop a collaborative financial services platform."

"We are hearing that the process (of opening up UPI for digital wallets) is likely to be fast-tracked. Since the (prepaid payment instruments, or digital wallets) are also issued licences by RBI, the logical step is to open the UPI infrastructure to them and make it more inclusive," Ritesh Pai, country head for digital banking at Yes Bank, which has partnered with Flipkart-owned payments venture PhonePe, told ET.

As per the RBI data, UPI network registered about 4.2 million transactions worth Rs 1,900 crore in February.