The Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to process and settle import and export related payments facilitated by online payment gateway service providers. RBI has put a cap of $2,000 on import and $10,000 on export of goods and software as allowed under the foreign trade policy. The banks will need to sign up for exporters and importers with global payment gateway providers such as PayPal, 2 checkout and Digital River through merchants.

It means one can shop at foreign e-commerce sites such as Amazon and eBay or import goods including software using net banking, or domestic credit or debit card.

These changes would help bring in the world closer as more people would be able to place their order and make online payments for the same. With this, the world would witness another surge in online payments similar to the one that was witnessed during the pandemic. The situation of the pandemic demanded people to place orders for most of their necessities from online apps by opting for online payments to avoid physical contact with the delivery boys. This data comes as a result of various case studies (check out the case study here), some of which could be used to study the future trends when these changes would be implemented.

Although, this can be a big business but banks are wary of opening up the payment gateways because of the risks involved.

Reserve Bank of India

• RBI commenced its operations on 1 April 1935 during the British Rule in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
• Following India’s independence on 15 August 1947, the RBI was nationalised on 1 January 1949.
• The Governor of RBI is Raghuram Rajan. There are 4 Deputy Governors, Deputy Governor H R Khan, Dr Urjit Patel, R Gandhi and S S Mundra.