The Reserve Bank of India has fined One Mobikwik Systems Limited, the company behind the MobiKwik wallet, ₹9.00 lakh (₹900,000). The RBI says MobiKwik let some wallet holders send more money to payees they had not registered than the rules allow, and reported certain frauds late.
The penalty was imposed by an order dated November 6, 2026 and announced in an RBI press release on November 13. It covers breaches of RBI’s directions on prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), the category that includes mobile wallets, and on fraud reporting.
What the RBI found
The RBI inspected MobiKwik’s operations for the period from June 2025 to March 2026. After a show-cause notice, the company’s written reply and a personal hearing, the regulator said two charges were sustained:
- MobiKwik allowed fund transfers by certain PPI holders to beneficiaries who were not pre-registered, beyond the prescribed limit.
- It failed to report certain frauds within the prescribed timeline.
The RBI used its powers under section 30(1), read with section 26(6), of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. It says the penalty is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and does not pronounce on the validity of any transaction or agreement between MobiKwik and its customers. It also says the penalty is without prejudice to any other action it may take against the company.
The limit at the center of the case
The RBI’s press release does not say how far over the limit the transfers went. The rule it refers to is in the Master Direction on Prepaid Payment Instruments, last updated on September 30, 2026. For full-KYC wallets, the kind where the holder has completed identity checks, it sets these ceilings:
| Full-KYC wallet rule | RBI ceiling |
|---|---|
| Balance at any time | ₹2,00,000 |
| Transfers to a pre-registered beneficiary | ₹2,00,000 per month per beneficiary |
| All other fund transfers | ₹10,000 per month |
| Transfers back to the source account or the holder’s own verified bank account | Issuer sets the limit by risk |
Wallet companies may set lower limits than these, according to the direction and the RBI’s PPI FAQ.
In practice, a full-KYC wallet holder who sends money to payees they have not registered is capped at ₹10,000 a month across those transfers. Registering a payee, by giving their bank account or wallet details to the issuer first, raises the cap to ₹2,00,000 a month for that payee. The charge against MobiKwik is that, for some holders, this distinction was not enforced.
What it means for wallet users
The press release announces a monetary penalty and names no change for MobiKwik customers. For anyone using an Indian wallet, the rule is worth knowing: sending more than ₹10,000 in a month to someone new should require adding them as a beneficiary first. For how wallets differ from bank accounts, see what a digital wallet is.
