New Delhi, Feb 27: E-wallet users will not lose their account balance if they fail to complete the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms by February 28, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) clarified.

RBI's Deputy Governor B P Kanungo on Monday said the customers will not lose their money. The e-wallet users would also be allowed to make purchases using their account balance, even if they fail to complete the KYC norms, he added. However, remitting fund to others and reloading the e-wallet would no longer be allowed.

The deadline for KYC compliance was earlier fixed as December 31, 2017. However, it was later extended till February 28, 2018.

The leading e-wallet issuers - PayTM, MobiKwik, Amazon Pay and Ola Money - are running against time to meet the KYC deadline for their users.

The RBI, so far, has issued licenses to 55 non-bank issuers of pre-paid instruments (PPIs) - the technical term for e-wallets - and 50 PPIs promoted by the banks.

PayTM, which has the maximum number of e-wallet users, had set aside a mammoth budget of $500 million (Rs 3,250 crore) to complete the KYC-compliance of its customers.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 27, 2018 11:22 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).