The RBI has proposed a one-hour delay for digital payments above Rs 10,000 to curb rising frauds, which hit Rs 22,930 crore in 2025. The discussion paper outlines safeguards like trusted-person authentication for seniors, capped credits with verification, and a “kill switch” to block transactions. The move targets APP fraud driven by social engineering.

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday released a discussion paper that sets out four options for introducing extra layers of safeguards in digital transactions, which include a lagged credit for authorised push payments above Rs 10,000 in order to check mounting frauds which crossed the Rs 22,930 crore mark in 2025.

The other three options include additional authentication by a trusted person for high-value digital transactions by senior citizens, only accounts with satisfactory additional review to receive large credits, and customer-induced controls.

According to the first option, banks would be required to hold account-to-account transfers above Rs 10,000 for one hour at the payer's end before executing them. During this period, customers would retain the option to cancel the transaction.

If a transaction appears suspicious, the bank would be required to seek reconfirmation from the payer before proceeding. Merchant payments, e-mandates, NACH transactions, and cheques would be exempt. Customers could also whitelist specific payees to bypass the delay.