Fintechs also flagged the immediate settlement pressures they would face under the law
Fintech companies and banks on Friday sought specific guidelines and sufficient time to comply with the new online gaming law. The clarifications were sought from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at a meeting of the stakeholders to discuss the provisions of the Online Gaming Act 2025, and understand how to implement it.
The industry also raised concerns around customer refunds, chargebacks, and the treatment of current accounts after the ban on real-money games (RMG). Fintechs also flagged the immediate settlement pressures they would face under the law.
Sources privy to the meeting told businessline that the meeting was chaired by M Nagaraju, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance; and S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for ‘familiarisation with Act provisions’. Top lenders including SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, along with payments body NPCI and leading fintech firms PhonePe, Stripe, Razorpay and PayU were also present at the meeting, said sources.
“The meeting was about understanding how they propose to implement the Act and transitional measures if any, challenges they expect and any suggestions for the rules,” a source said.
Refunding customers
Fintechs said refunding customers and reconciling chargebacks requires adequate liquidity buffers, and requested flexibility to maintain balances to facilitate smooth transactions.
Banks sought clarity on current account operations, on how to distinguish between legitimate salary and vendor payments versus RMG-linked transactions. Without such clarity, they said blocking accounts could disrupt normal business operations.
“They were mostly welcoming. Committing to implement. Seeking specific and detailed guidelines from RBI. They have sought time for the backend compliance mechanisms to settle in,” a government source said.
The meeting was held virtually and went on for more than one hour.
MeitY officials also emphasised that customers will not be penalised under the law.
“The focus is on restricting money flow to banned platforms, not on treating players as criminals. Financial institutions should not freeze user accounts or block cards simply because individuals transacted with gaming platforms in the past,” said sources.
The Centre has banned all forms of online money gaming by bringing in the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act after repeated complaints of people dying by suicide due to heavy monetary losses.
The government is in the process of notifying the Act, after which it will come up with rules to implement it.
Published on August 29, 2025