Paytm Payments Bank halts int’l transactions on debit cards

Paytm Payments Bank has announced that it will be temporarily disabling international transactions on debit cards.

“People having debit cards will no longer be able to initiate international transactions using debit cards till further notice,” Paytm said in an email to its customers.

“We understand that this may impact your financial activities, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to you,” the email added.

The company did not disclose the reason for the move.

In March 2020, Paytm Payments Bank commenced the issuance of Visa debit cards to its clientele. Initially, the company introduced digital cards as part of their service, which later transitioned into physical Visa cards.

As of March 2023, Paytm Bank had 589,000 active cards with SBI Card and HDFC Bank. 

Paytm Payment Bank is an associate company of the fintech giant Paytm which holds 49% of the company. It posted Rs 2,356 crore in revenue during the previous fiscal year while profits were registered at 5.7 crore in FY23.

The announcement comes days after the central bank slapped Paytm Payments Bank with a fine of Rs 5.39 crore. The Reserve Bank of India cited non-compliance with certain guidelines around KYC and cyber security, according to a Mint report.

The RBI had taken similar stringent action against the bank last year over “certain material supervisory concerns”. The bank was barred from onboarding new customers and asked to audit its IT systems.