• Source:JND
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Hitting out at the government following Reserve Bank of India's action against Paytm Payments Bank, restricting it from accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer accounts, wallets, and FASTags, among others after February 29, the Congress said that the order will significantly impact the ordinary Indians the most. It also asked why the firm with Chinese links had not been kept under strict monitoring. 

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said, “The last 10 years under PM Modi have brought only chaos to the banking system. First, the disastrous demonetisation decision was taken without any planning and over objections of the RBI. Then, the bankruptcy of IL&FS in 2018 hit the NBFC sector. Now, the RBI has issued an order to stop all services at PayTM Payments Bank. This order will, as usual, hit ordinary Indians the most,” he said. 

“Why has a firm with Chinese links — at one point with 31 per cent Chinese ownership and Chinese investment of more than ₹7000 crore—which has previously been penalised by the RBI for noncompliance in 2022, not been kept under stricter monitoring?” he said. 

“Does this have anything to do with PayTM’s vocal support on 9th November, 2016 of the disastrous demonetisation decision?” he added. 

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This came after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday ordered the Paytm Payments Bank to stop accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer accounts,  FASTags, wallets, and other instruments from March 1.

"No other banking services, other than those...like fund transfers (irrespective of name and nature of services like AEPS, IMPS, etc), BBPOU and UPI facility should be provided by the bank after February 29, 2024," the central bank noted. 

Earlier in 2022, the central bank directed the Paytm Payments Bank to restrict customer additions due to non-compliance issues. Now, the RBI has instructed the bank to stop accepting new deposits without specifying a review timeline for the imposed restrictions.