I had received a gift card of Rs. 1500 from my friend on the occasion of my marriage from erstwhile giftbig.in( now woohoo.in) a payment system of QwikCilver Solutions Pvt. Ltd. a company authorized under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 by RBI.
The payment for the same was already done by my friend since the card was prepaid in nature. However, the card validity was only for six months till 26-Sep-2015. As per my basic understanding of accounts, the Company had accepted deposit ( payment for gift card) which would be a liability for the Company. However, the Company did not provide any service in lieu of the liability.
When asked for extension of the gift card validity, the Company claims that they cannot extend the validity of the gift card and are in perfect compliance of the RBI regulations as can be seen from mail trail below. I fail to understand how RBI regulations permit a Company to take deposits from customers and usurp the same without providing any service. Internationally there are appropriate regulations wherein pre-paid cards do not have any expiry dates ( read www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/consumers-other-business-home/how-can-we-help/gift-c...⇄ ).
As per my understanding of the extant regulations viz. Section 23A of "The Payment and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Act, 2015" attached-
In the interest of the customers of designated payment systems require system provider to deposit the amounts collected by the system provider from its customers and remaining outstanding in a separate liquid deposit account and the balance held in the account or accounts shall not be utilised for any purpose other than for discharging the liabilities arising on account of the usage of the payment service by the customers or for repaying to the customers or for such other purpose as may be specified by the Reserve Bank from time to time.
Since the payment system has not provided any payment service to me nor has it repaid the deposit ( gift card ) amount, non extension of validity is clear contravention of the law. Surprisingly, the QwikCilver Solutions Pvt. Ltd. still maintains that they are complying with RBI regulations.