With eye on Lok Sabha elections 2024, RBI orders payment companies to report suspicious transactions

The Lok Sabha elections 2024 are in full swing with electioneering adding much colour to the entire process.

However, to ensure that there is no wrongdoing, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sent a missive to Payment System Operators (PSOs) asking them to keep a watch on all suspicious high-value transactions that they may come across in their systems.

The general purpose of the letter is to deny the use of electronic fund transfer mechanism to anyone who is intending to influence the election in any way. Notably, such transactions may be misused to either provide funds to candidates or otherwise influence the voters in some way or the other. The intention is to ensure the elections, which started on April 19, are carried out in as safe, secure and proper way as possible.

According to a report in MoneyControl that quotes an April 15 letter sent to non-banking PSOs, the RBI said, “Various electronic modes of payments have the potential to be used for transfer of money to influence the voters or to fund the candidates participating in the elections….”

The letter had also indicated the concern expressed over this issue by the Election Commission of India (ECI), which had suggested suitable action to be taken. Among these are to report any such dodgy transactions to the authorities as indicated by the ECI regulations and it applies for the duration of the polling process in the country.

PSOs are intermediaries that enable online transactions, including apps and cards, and include Visa, Rupay, PayU, Paytm, Google Pay and even spans companies that enable foreign money transfers.

In fact, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar, as far back as March 16 had ordered banks too to share similar transaction details and that too on a daily basis. “This is part of the steps from the poll body to curb the impact of money power and ensure fair elections,” Kumar had explained.