Domestic money transfer is designed to bring small-value remittances into formal channels, including for people who may not have a bank account. RBI’s new consolidated Directions turn that inclusion objective into a clear operating-control agenda for banks, payment operators, business correspondents and their technology partners.
What RBI has consolidated
The Directions took effect immediately on 11 November 2026. For cash pay-out, the maximum is ₹10,000 per transaction and ₹25,000 per month per beneficiary. A walk-in customer may remit up to ₹50,000 at a bank branch through NEFT; transfers through business correspondents, ATMs and similar channels are capped at ₹5,000 per transaction and ₹25,000 per month per remitter.
For cash pay-in, the remitter must be registered using a verified mobile number and a self-certified officially valid document, and every transaction must use an additional factor of authentication. The transaction message must carry remitter details and identify the transfer as a cash-based remittance. Card-to-card transfers remain outside these Directions.
Key takeaway for management
This is more than a limit-setting circular. RBI expects velocity checks, customer credit alerts and immediate investigation of unusual spikes in credits to an account or connected group of accounts. Suspicious transactions must be escalated, transfers should operate in real or near-real time, and inter-bank settlement must use RBI-approved payment systems.
Management should therefore test the complete journey—from onboarding and authentication to transaction tagging, limit aggregation, exception investigation and grievance handling. A policy that restates the Directions is not enough if system rules, agent practices and management reporting do not produce reliable evidence.
What leaders should do now
- Map every domestic money-transfer channel, participant and system rule to the applicable per-transaction and monthly limits.
- Test verified-mobile, OVD, additional-authentication and transaction-message controls across branches, agents, ATMs and partner interfaces.
- Put velocity alerts, unusual-credit investigations, suspicious-transaction escalation and grievance metrics into a named management review.
CFO PERSPECTIVEThe financial-control question is whether the operating model can prove compliance transaction by transaction. Finance, operations, compliance and technology should share one control map, one exception dashboard and clear ownership for remediation before volume growth magnifies a design gap. The same dashboard should show limit breaches by channel, alert ageing, investigation closure, agent exceptions and customer complaints, so leaders can see control quality alongside transaction growth and revenue.
CA Jigarkumar Shah
Read the original material
RBI/DPSS/2026-27/476; CO.DPSS.POLC.No.S843/02-27-019/2026-2027
Important: This article is general information and a business perspective based on the cited source. It is not legal, tax, accounting or investment advice. The law and official guidance may change; obtain advice for your facts before acting.