Current Context: Amazon Pay (India) is the digital payment arm of e-commerce giant Amazon. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of over Rs 3.06 crore on Amazon Pay (India) for failing to comply with certain rules related to Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) and Know Your Customer (KYC) direction.
- The RBI had issued a notice to Amazon Pay (India) advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed for non-compliance with the directions. The RBI said that after considering Amazon Pay's reply, oral submissions made during personal hearing and examination of additional submissions, it concluded that imposition of monetary penalty was warranted.
- Amazon's response to RBI's penalty was:"We remain deeply committed to operating as per regulatory guidelines and maintaining a high compliance bar, while we innovate on behalf of our customers to offer them a safe and convenient payments experience."
The exact reason for Amazon Pay's failure to comply with the rules is not clear from the available sources. However, some possible factors are:
- Amazon Pay may have faced challenges in verifying the identity and address of its customers who use its PPI services.
- Amazon Pay may have neglected to report or disclose its PPI transactions or customer data to RBI or other authorities as required by law
- Amazon Pay may have violated other provisions of the Master Directions on PPIs issued by RBI in 2021, such as maintaining minimum net-worth, safeguarding customer funds, ensuring interoperability, etc.
Question:
Q.1 When did RBI issue a notice to Amazon Pay (India) advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed for non-compliance with certain norms?
a. August 27, 2021
a. August 27, 2021
b. September 30, 2021
c. October 31, 2021
d. November 30, 2021
