FAQs - Prepaid & Wallet

This section outlines some of the most important FAQs pertaining to the Prepaid & Wallet module. If you have any other queries, please reach out to us at [email protected].

1. What are Prepaid Cards?

Prepaid Cards are Semi-Closed or Open Loop prepaid instruments that are similar to Debit Cards. If they are semi-closed, then a cash withdrawal facility is not available, and in an open loop, the customers can also use ATMs to withdraw cash.

2. Does the RBI guidance of 5 (or N) free ATM withdrawals also apply to prepaid cards?

No, that guidance is only applicable to bank-issued debit cards for customers and not prepaid cards.

3. What kind of Prepaid Cards does Decentro offer?

Decentro offers semi-open, semi-closed, and open prepaid cards over multiple card networks like Rupay, Visa, and MasterCard (once reinstated by RBI in India). And these ride on top of the PPI license issued to our non-bank partners - Transcorp and LivQuik.

4. Does the card provide additional benefits from the bank?

Yes, absolutely. You also receive bank and card network-specific benefits on each of those cards.

5. Is KYC needed for issuing a Prepaid Card?

Min KYC is needed to issue any prepaid card but this card will have a Monthly and Annual load limit of INR 10,000 and INR 1,20,000 respectively.

Customers do have the option of increasing the transaction limit by completing full KYC via physical verification of officially valid documents (OVD), video KYC (based on documents including Aadhar XML offline, CKYC, Digilocker, etc), and biometric KYC (currently functional only for bank issuers).

For completing full KYC, your company will need to sign the Banking Correspondent (BC) agreement with our underlying partner PPI issuer. Further details on the KYC norms, PPI limits, and validity can be found on RBI's site.

7. Can a customer have multiple virtual or physical cards against a wallet?

Yes. From a technical point of view, this is doable. However, certain issuers have concerns about issuing multiple virtual cards against a wallet due to compliance reasons.

Decentro doesn’t recommend doing this due to the poor customer experience as customers are required to remember or manage multiple card numbers.

8. Is Biometric KYC available for all partners?

No. Only bank PPI issuers can complete full KYC using a biometric model. Non-bank issuers will rely on Video KYC to complete the process.

9. Will UPI functionality be applicable on Prepaid Cards with minimum KYC as well?

No, UPI will be available only for Prepaid Cards that have completed full KYC and if the issuer supports UPI on PPI.

10. What are the form factors available for the Prepaid Cards?

Decentro provides both virtual and physical prepaid cards depending upon the use case. In virtual cards, customers will not be able to use the same in physical POS machines.

11. How can the Prepaid card be loaded?

Prepaid cards can be loaded using virtual accounts provided by Decentro. You can transfer funds into virtual accounts using NEFT/IMPS/RTGS/UPI.

Please note money can be loaded in Min KYC PPIs having cash-loading functionality via physical cash. The process would vary depending on the issuer, however, a typical flow would include depositing cash at the issuer's impaneled agent’s center.

12. What is the validity of the Prepaid card issued via Decentro?

Prepaid cards having a cash-loading facility issued with Min KYC have a validity of 24 months which can be further increased after completion of detailed or Aadhar-based KYC. However, there is no expiry on the prepaid cards without a cash-loading facility issued with Min KYC.

13. Can 1 person hold more than 1 prepaid card?

Yes, a single individual can hold multiple prepaid cards if the 1st wallet is full of KYC. However, please note that the PPI limits prescribed are on an individual level (mapped against mobile number and KYC) irrespective of the number of cards held. Also, there will be only 1 wallet against the customer with the issuer and the same wallet will be mapped to multiple cards.

Example: Mr. A can hold two prepaid cards under Decentro’s program. However, the overall balance limit will be restricted to INR 2,00,000 for Full KYC wallets.

14. Can a card be blocked or prevented from being used for transactions?

Yes. A card can be locked temporarily from usage and can be unlocked later. Decentro provides the capability to lock wallets temporarily and unlock them later.

Alternatively, the platform can also choose to permanently block a card. This will result in the wallet being closed in the program.

15. Can Prepaid cards be closed? Where will the balance go after the card is discontinued?

Yes, Prepaid cards can be discontinued and closed. The remaining balance on the card can be transferred to the linked bank account using Decentro’s Money Transfer APIs.

16. Can the balance on the Prepaid card be transferred to another Prepaid card?

Yes, this is possible as long as the underlying wallets are in the same program till interoperability kicks in. Once interoperability kicks in, Full KYC wallets across issuers will be interoperable using UPI.

17. Is fund transfer possible through Prepaid cards?

Yes, this is possible through IMPS. However, please note that fund transfers can be made only to the source account or the PPI holder’s own bank account (as validated by the issuer) for Full KYC wallets.

18. Can the cards be co-branded and designed to our liking?

Yes, it is possible. However, there is a minimum upfront issuance commitment of at least 5K - 10K cards for doing co-branding with PPI partners. We have non-banking PPI partners in the backend who are very relaxed in customisation.

Design guidelines are typically provided by the network (VISA or Rupay) and the issuer. Smaller issuers like non-bank issuers are more flexible in terms of design compared to bank issuers who expect a specific design to be followed.

19. Can there be joint holders of Prepaid cards?

One prepaid card is linked to one individual and the KYC will be done for that individual. There cannot be joint holders for 1 prepaid card.

20. Can minors own a prepaid card?

No. RBI stipulates that the card needs to be owned by a non-minor individual only. However, Decentro does power the parent-child construct where it can power a prepaid card for a minor based on the KYC of the parent (adult). The limit will be common across both parent and child.

21. How does the parent-child PPI program work?

The parent-child construct is designed to cater to use cases where the individual using the card will be a minor and hence requires the KYC of the parent/adult to access a prepaid card. You will need to create a wallet for the parent first and then link the same to the child.

When the parent’s wallet is upgraded to Full KYC, the child’s wallet is upgraded as well and thus unlocks higher limits. As of now, only 1 parent-child mapping is supported, ie for 1 minor, 1 adult’s KYC information needs to be submitted.

22. Can a 3rd party fund the pre-paid cards?

Yes, anybody can fund the prepaid card using the virtual account linked to it via NEFT, IMPS, RTGS, or UPI. Decentro, however, recommends informing us who will be funding the pool account or the wallet upfront if it's not the customer.

23. Will the virtual and physical cards have the same number?

Yes. With our non-banking partners, virtual cards and physical cards will have the same number.

24. How can the platform convert a virtual card to a physical one?

Decentro provides APIs to convert a virtual card to a physical one.

25. Can I decide on the network (Rupay/Visa/MasterCard) for the cards?

Yes, we give you that choice when signing up with us. Some issuers, however, work with a specific card network only.

As of now, only Rupay & VISA network-based prepaid cards are supported due to the RBI ban on Mastercard.

26. Can I choose the PPI issuer from which I want the cards issued?

Yes, we give you that choice when signing up with us.

27. What's the difference between the "transaction amount,'' and "amount" fields in the callbacks that we get from the bank? Will both these fields contain values in paise, i.e. if the transaction is for INR 10, the value in one or both of these fields will be 1000?

The transaction amount will be the actual transaction amount and the amount field will have transaction amount + charges/fee. The values will be in paise. Currently, we verify only transaction amounts from network requests.

28. What's the meaning of the "entityId" field in the same callback?

This is a unique wallet identifier during all card transactions.

29. Can NBFCs or platforms power lending use cases?

No. Because of RBI guidelines Decentro can not power lending use cases on pre-paid cards.