As per the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), payments banks can accept demand deposits (savings and current account balances) up to a maximum of how much per customer?

Introduction / Context:
Payments banks are a special category of banks introduced by the Reserve Bank of India to promote financial inclusion by providing small savings accounts and payments or remittance services to people who may not have access to full commercial banking. A common exam question asks about the maximum amount of demand deposits that a payments bank is allowed to hold per customer under RBI guidelines.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• We are referring to the original regulatory framework for payments banks issued by the Reserve Bank of India.
• Demand deposits include savings account and current account balances.
• The limit is specified per individual customer, not per account type.
• The options are various rupee amounts that might be prescribed as a cap.

Concept / Approach:
The RBI designed payments banks to handle small ticket transactions and basic banking, not large volume credit or investment activity. To limit risk and keep the model focused on payments and inclusion, the RBI prescribed a maximum end-of-day balance per customer. Therefore, we answer the question by recalling that original cap. Later, RBI enhanced this limit, but for exam and static general knowledge, the figure generally tested is the original one lakh rupees ceiling.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall that the licensing guidelines for payments banks set a cap on the end-of-day customer balance.Step 2: Under those guidelines, a payments bank could accept demand deposits up to Rs 1,00,000 per customer.Step 3: This limit applied to the combined balances in savings and current accounts of that customer in that particular payments bank.Step 4: Compare this remembered limit with the options given: Rs 1,00,000 matches exactly.Step 5: Therefore, the correct answer is Rs 1,00,000 per customer.

Verification / Alternative check:
Many static banking awareness notes and RBI documents on payments banks mention that they can accept demand deposits up to Rs 1,00,000 per customer. Later, RBI increased the permissible limit to Rs 2,00,000, but exam questions based on the original guidelines specifically expect the earlier figure of one lakh rupees. Cross-checking multiple exam memory-based papers confirms that Rs 1,00,000 is the intended answer.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• Rs 2,00,000: This reflects a later enhanced limit and is not the figure used in the original guidelines on which such static GK questions are based.
• Rs 50,000: This amount is too low and does not match any major RBI cap for payments bank customer balances.
• Rs 5,00,000: This would defeat the purpose of keeping payments banks limited to small deposits and would increase risk.

Common Pitfalls:
Candidates sometimes confuse updated regulatory limits with the values that were originally notified and that are still widely tested in exams. Another frequent mistake is to mix up different financial inclusion schemes such as small finance banks, payments banks and schemes like Jan Dhan accounts, each of which has its own deposit or overdraft limits. To avoid confusion, it helps to memorise the original one lakh rupees cap for payments banks separately from later revisions.

Final Answer:
The maximum demand deposits that a payments bank could accept per customer under the original RBI guidelines was Rs 1,00,000.