What You Can Do With Your Paytm Wallet Following RBI Restrictions

There are a lot of users of the Paytm wallet, as this offers a digital option for an individual to make several types of payments. The recent restrictions by the Reserve Bank of India on Paytm Payments Bank have left a lot of these users worried about the manner in which they should complete their operations.

The good news is that the users can ensure a smooth transition without any disruption, as not only is there adequate time to complete the requirements, but there are no restrictions on the usage of the amounts in the wallet. It is essential for them to have a clear strategy in place so that they can access their money and have their transactions continue smoothly.

Here are some of the strategies that can be used for this particular purpose:

This is a strategy where the activity in the wallet is continued normally in terms of loading and spending amounts till Feb. 29, which is the date after which the RBI restrictions kick in.

The important thing is that the individual also needs to understand what are the exact restrictions. RBI has told Paytm Payments Bank that after this date, there should be no new onboarding of customers and at the same time should not allow deposits into the payments bank. This means that no new money can come into the accounts.

The user in this case can ensure that they think out a plan or an alternative option for their usage by this time. In the meantime, they can continue their normal usage of the wallet, both in terms of adding and using the amounts, with the idea that they would ultimately bring the balance down to zero. There is no curb on the time period till which the amount has to be used, so this can continue even after February-end.

The other type of strategy that a lot of risk-averse users might want to follow is to ensure that since there are restrictions coming up, they completely end the use of the wallet.

In this case, it would imply that not only will they not add any new money to the wallet, but at the same time, they would empty out the existing amount. This can be done easily as the wallet allows the facility to transfer the amount that is present in the wallet to their bank account and once this is done, then the balance becomes zero and the account can also be closed if required.

The amount in the wallet can also be used up by spending it at various places, or a mixture of the two comprising usage and bank transfer can be used.

The third strategy that can also be adopted is for the user to stop adding any new money to the wallet. Even though the deadline for stoppage of new deposits is Feb. 29, the user might not want to wait till that long and they might want to cease any further exposure to the wallet.

Here, the existing balance in the account will then have to be dealt with and this can be used as per the normal run of transactions. It could be that there are several places where the wallet is being used and these transactions can continue till the time that the balance runs out. It has to be remembered that the restriction after end of February is on the deposits only and not on the expenses or the usage.

The outflow from the wallet can continue even after this period, so there is no spending deadline and hence, the user can then drawdown the amounts as per their normal usage till the balance comes down to zero.

Arnav Pandya is founder of Moneyeduschool.