THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 11, 2026

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted banks to offer cash pay-out services through ATMs, Business Correspondents (BCs) and other authorised payment channels, enabling recipients without bank accounts to receive money transferred from bank accounts, while capping such payouts at Rs 10,000 per transaction.

The facility, aimed at strengthening access to domestic money transfer services, forms part of the RBI's revised Domestic Money Transfer (DMT) Directions, 2026, issued by consolidating its existing instructions on such transactions.

Under the revised framework, the maximum amount that can be transferred through the cash pay-out facility will be Rs 10,000 per transaction, subject to an overall monthly ceiling of Rs 25,000 per beneficiary. The remitting bank will also be required to obtain and maintain records of the beneficiary's name and address.

Besides cash payouts, banks can provide cash pay-in services, under which money deposited by customers is credited to beneficiaries' bank accounts.

For cash pay-in transactions, the RBI has allowed walk-in customers at bank branches to remit up to Rs 50,000 to a beneficiary's bank account through the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system.

Banks can also facilitate such transfers through Business Correspondents, ATMs and other permitted channels, subject to a ceiling of Rs 5,000 per transaction and an aggregate monthly limit of Rs 25,000 per remitter.

To strengthen compliance and transaction security, remitting banks and their Business Correspondents will have to register customers on the basis of a verified mobile phone number and a self-certified Officially Valid Document (OVD).

Every transaction initiated by a remitter will also require validation through an Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA), the RBI said.

The central bank has further mandated that remitting banks include the remitter's details in the IMPS or NEFT transaction message, along with a specific identifier to distinguish cash-based remittances from other fund transfers.

Banks and their Business Correspondents will also have to comply with the applicable provisions of the Income-Tax Act, 2025, and the rules and regulations framed thereunder, as amended from time to time, relating to cash deposits.

In a move to encourage wider adoption of the facility, banks and non-bank entities, wherever applicable, have been allowed to determine reasonable charges for providing DMT services.

The RBI has also emphasised the need for robust safeguards to prevent misuse of the facility and detect suspicious transactions. Banks and non-banks will be required to put in place appropriate monitoring mechanisms, including velocity checks and customer alerts for credits received in accounts through these services.

Any unusual increase in the volume of credits in an individual account or a group of accounts must be investigated immediately, with suspicious transactions reported to the appropriate authorities, the central bank said.

The revised directions seek to streamline domestic money transfer services while strengthening customer identification, transaction authentication and monitoring mechanisms across the banking system.