The Parliament on January 19, 2024, issued the Payment and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to further amend the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
The following amendments have been stated:
• In section 26, which states “Penalties”:
"(i) For sub-section (1), the following shall be substituted, namely:
"(1) Where a person contravenes the provisions of section 4 or fails to comply with the terms and conditions subject to which the authorisation has been issued under section 7, he shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to 1 crore rupees and with a further fine which may extend to 1 lakh rupees for every day, after the first during which the contravention or failure to comply continues.";
(ii) In sub-section (2), the words "imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years and shall also be liable to" shall be omitted
(iii) For sub-section (4), the following shall be substituted, namely:
"(4) If any person discloses any information, the disclosure of which is prohibited under section 22, he shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to 5 lakh rupees or an amount equal to twice the amount of the damages incurred by the act of such disclosure."; and
(iv) For sub-section (5), the following shall be substituted, namely:
"(5) Where a direction issued under this Act is not complied with within the period stipulated by the Reserve Bank or where no such period is stipulated, within a reasonable time or where the penalty imposed by the Reserve Bank under section 30 is not paid within 30 days from the date of the order, the system provider or the system participant which has failed to comply with the direction or to pay the penalty shall be punishable with fine which may extend to 1 crore rupees and where the failure to comply with the direction continues, with a further fine which may extend to 1 lakh rupees for every day, after the first during which the contravention continues."
[Bill No XXVIII OF 2023]
