India's central bank fines Visa for unauthorised payment method

BENGALURU (Reuters) -The Reserve Bank of India imposed a penalty of 24.1 million rupees (nearly $288,000) on Visa in relation to its usage of an unauthorised payment transfer method, the central bank said on Friday.

"It was observed that the entity (Visa) had implemented a payment authentication solution without regulatory clearance from RBI," the central bank said in a statement, without providing details on the transgression.

"We duly acknowledge the RBI order and remain committed to following RBI guidelines and regulations to continue providing safe and secure payment solutions in India," a Visa spokesperson said in a statement.

In February, the RBI had ordered the credit card company to stop using an unauthorised route to make some commercial payments, per a Reuters report.

The central bank has aimed to tighten scrutiny of the processes followed by financial technology, or fintech, companies.

($1 = 83.6990 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Varun Hebbalalu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheem and Stephen Coates)