Last month, the RBI had barred Paytm Payments Bank from accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer account, prepaid instruments, wallets, FASTags and NCMC card after February 29, 2024 in the wake of persistent non-compliances and material.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), while extending the deadline for restriction imposed on Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) till March 15, 2024, issued a detailed list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Friday for customers of the bank. While the RBI said customers can’t transfer or deposit money into the PPBL accounts after March 15, they can use the money lying in PPBL accounts till it’s exhausted.

Last month, the RBI had barred Paytm Payments Bank from accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer account, prepaid instruments, wallets, FASTags and NCMC card after February 29, 2024 in the wake of persistent non-compliances and material.

Paytm Payments Bank Wallet

RBI clarified that said after March 15, 2024, wallet users of Paytm Payments Bank will not be able to top-up or transfer money into the wallet or receive any credits, other than cashbacks, or refunds into the wallet.

The refunds and cashbacks which are due in the wallet will also be allowed to be credited after the deadline.

The wallet users of PPBL will continue to use, withdraw or transfer money to another wallet or bank account up to the balance available after March 15, 2024 also, the bank said. However, minimum KYC wallets can be used only for merchant payments, it said.

As per the regulation, a minimum-KYC wallet can be opened by submitting minimal information including a mobile number verified with OTP (one time password), a self-declaration of name and a unique identity / identification number.

A bank customer can also close the Paytm Payments Bank wallet and transfer the balance to their account with another bank. For this, a customer can approach the bank or use its banking app to close the wallet and transfer the balance to an account maintained with another bank in the case of full KYC wallets.

In the case of minimum KYC Wallet, a customer may use the available balance or request for a refund, the RBI said.

FASTag issued by Paytm Payments Bank

Customers having FastTag issued by PPBL will be able to continue to use the FASTag to pay toll upto the available balance. However, no further funding or top ups will be allowed in the FASTags issued by the bank after March 15, 2024.

Customers using FASTag issued by the bank will not be able to top-up and recharge the balance post March 15, 2024. They will have to procure a new FASTag issued by another bank before March 15, 2024 to avoid any inconvenience.

The RBI said since the credit balance transfer feature is not available in the FASTag product, customers will have to close their old FASTag issued by the bank and request the bank for a refund.

Bank accounts with Paytm Payments Bank

Customers who are having savings or current account with PPBL, can continue to use, withdraw or transfer their funds from their account upto the available balance in account after March 15. Similarly, they can use their debit card to withdraw or transfer funds upto the available balance in their account.

The bank’s savings bank or current account customers will not be able to deposit money into their account with PPBL after March 15.

“No credits or deposits other than interest, cashbacks, sweep-in from partner banks or refunds are allowed to be credited,” the RBI said.

The central bank said that refunds, cashbacks, sweep-in from partner banks or interest are permitted credits into your account even after March 15.

The existing deposits of PPBL customers maintained with partner banks can be brought back (sweep-in) to the accounts with PPBL, subject to the ceiling on balance prescribed for a payments bank, which is Rs 2 lakh per individual customer at the end of day.

Such sweep-ins for the purpose of making available the balances for use or withdrawal by the customer will continue to be allowed. However, no fresh deposits with partner banks through PPBL will be allowed after March 15, the RBI said.

After the deadline, customers will not be able to receive any salary in their account with PPBL and they will have to make alternative arrangements with another bank before March 15 to avoid inconvenience, the RBI said.

Any subsidy or direct benefit transfers will also not be credited into any account with PPBL after March 15.

The RBI said withdrawal or debit mandates (such as National Automated Clearing House (NACH) mandates) will continue to get executed till there is balance available in the account of PPBL’s customer. However, after March 15, 2024, credit or deposit in the PPBL accounts will not be allowed.

Withdrawal or debit mandates through automatic UPI mandates will continue to get executed till the time there is balance available in a customer’s account.

Auto debit mandates such as the instalment (EMI) of a customer’s loan which is automatically paid through their account with PPBL will continue to get executed till the time there is balance available in the account. After March 15, 2024, credit or deposit in the accounts with PPBL will not be allowed, the RBI said.

EMIs registered with any bank other than PPBL can continue after March 15.

Money transfer through UPI/ IMPS

The bank’s customers will not be able to transfer the money into their account with PPBL account after March 15, 2024. However, customers can withdraw money from PPBL account through UPI/ IMPS upto the balance available in your account.

Merchants using Paytm Payments Bank to receive payments

The merchants that are accepting payments using a Paytm QR code, Paytm soundbox or Paytm POS terminal, linked to another bank account (not with PPBL) will be able to continue to use the set-up even after March 15, 2024.

After March 15, merchants will not be able to receive any credit into their bank account or wallet with PPBL other than refunds, cashbacks, sweep-in from partner banks or interest.

Onboarding of new customers

The RBI said the business restriction announced on March 11, 2022, prohibiting PPBL from onboarding any new customers for any of its services continues to be in force. Hence, the bank cannot onboard any new customers after March 11, 2022.

National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) issued by PPBL

Customers having NCMC card issued by PPBL will be able to use it upto the available balance till March 15. No top-up of funds into the card will be allowed after the deadline.

Aadhar enabled Payment System (AePS)

The bank’s customers can continue to withdraw from their account using the AePS authentication, upto the balance available in the account.

Accounts frozen or lien marked

The RBI said any lien or freeze (full or partial) marked as per the instructions of any law enforcement or judicial authorities on the account/wallet of a customer with PPBL will continue to be governed by the orders passed by such authorities.

In case, if there is a lien or freeze marked on PPBL account or wallet due to internal policies of the bank, RBI has directed the lender to allow withdrawal or transfer to another bank account of the customer, upto the available balance in the account / wallets.

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The Biden administration is in talks to confer more than $10 billion in subsidies to Intel Corp., people familiar with the matter said, in what would be the largest award yet under a plan to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to US soil.

Intel’s award package is expected to include both loans and direct grants, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. They stressed that negotiations are still underway.

The Commerce Department and Intel declined to comment.

The incentives would come from the 2022 Chips and Science Act, which set aside $39 billion in direct grants as well as loans and loan guarantees worth $75 billion to get the world’s top semiconductor companies to manufacture chips in the US after decades of production abroad.

Intel climbed as much as 1.1% in late trading Friday after Bloomberg reported the news. The stock was down 13% this year through the close.

Chips firms have invested more than $230 billion in the US since President Joe Biden took office, and the administration’s goal is to establish at least two leading-edge manufacturing clusters by 2030.

The Commerce Department has already announced two smaller Chips Act grants. Secretary Gina Raimondo said last week that there would be a “drumbeat of even bigger announcements” in the next six to 12 weeks.

Intel dominated the chip industry for years but has recently fallen behind Asian rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co., which are building their own US sites in Arizona and Texas. Intel Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger has been the leading industry voice lobbying for US government support of the sector, and the firm has said its plans are contingent on that funding.

Intel is building a $20 billion facility in Ohio, undergoing a $20 billion expansion in Arizona and investing $3.5 billion in New Mexico.

It’s not yet clear how Intel’s award would be split between grants and loans, the people said. Loan terms are company-specific, the people said, as are benchmarks that the Commerce Department will impose to disburse the funding over time.

Intel hasn’t said when its projects will begin commercial production. The company has made significant progress in Ohio, a spokesperson said after the Wall Street Journal reported a delay from 2025 to 2026. An administration official said that the timeline is in bounds with Intel’s initial projections and based on market factors, not award announcements.

The Commerce Department earlier announced Chips Act grants to the American subsidiary of BAE Systems Plc and Microchip Technology Inc. for facilities in New Hampshire, Oregon and Colorado.

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Till now, 45 crore bank accounts have opened under the scheme, the minister said.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday inaugurated the 2024 Annual Government and Institutional Business Meet of the Federal Bank and asserted that under the Jan Dhan scheme around 45 crore bank accounts have been opened.

Addressing an audience of the officials and employees of the bank, the Minister at the very outset, congratulated Federal Bank for an all-time high share price.

Recalling the mood when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Thakur said that a lot of people had rebuffed it as a non-starter.

“But today the government can proudly boast of having opened 45 crore bank accounts under the scheme. The corpus under the Jan Dhan accounts is a mammoth 2.1 lakh crore rupees that is part of the banking ecosystem,” he said.

Reminiscing the time before the current government, Thakur said that before 2014 the government was known for policy paralysis. Since 2014, the credo has shifted to Reform, Perform, Transform. The banking sector is today out of the clutches of debt and at an all-time high performance.

The Minister stated that when the country was hurt by economic offenders before 2014, it was the current government that came out with the Economic Offenders Bill and is still fighting cases abroad to get all the offenders back to India. The gross NPA has reduced to 3.2 per cent, and the return on assets has seen a rise from 0.5 per cent to 0.79 per cent in 2023.

He went on to state that a similar mood prevailed when digital payments were promoted by the government after demonetization but today the smallest of payments is being made by BHIM UPI. These are examples that have taken India from Fragile 5 to the top 5 economies of the world and will take the country to 3rd largest economy soon.

Thakur said that the government’s efforts, with a mix of accountability and transparency, have brought 25 crore people out of multidimensional poverty in the past ten years and this a proof of people benefiting from Government schemes.

The Government can proudly proclaim that a hundred per cent of government expenditure on social sector schemes is reaching the beneficiaries due to the implementation of the JAM trinity.

The Minister ensured that the government will keep taking bold initiatives and is resolute to take India to the top 3 economies in another five years and a developed country by 2047.

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The facility will be built on 2958 acres of land in Jagatsinghpur, JSW Steel said in a statement.

JSW Steel, India’s largest steelmaker by capacity and a part of the $23 billion-JSW Group, has announced an investment of ₹65,000 crore for Odisha, and will utilise the investment to set up an integrated steel plant, a port facility, and a cement factory, at Jagatsinghpur in the eastern state.

While the port will handle 52 million tonnes of cargo per annum, the cement factory will be able to produce 10 million tonnes, and an iron ore slurry transportation system will have the capacity to transport 30 million tonnes per annum, the Economic Times reported.

According to a JSW Steel statement, 2958 acres of land has been handed over to it for the project by the Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO).

“30% of the total project land will be dedicated for the preservation of forests and water bodies. The investment will be made in multiple phases subject to necessary approvals,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal, who on Friday attended a foundation-laying ceremony presided over by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, said that the integrated steel plant is expected to drive economic growth in the region with a potential to generate about 30,000 direct and indirect jobs.

As per ET, the land for the project was earlier earmarked for South Korean steelmaker POSCO, in 2005, with plans to set up a 12 MTPA (millions of tonnes per annum) facility with an investment of ₹52,000 crore. POSCO, however, withdrew in 2017 following stiff opposition from the locals towards the project.

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