Atom Technologies gives up licence for issuing pre-paid cards

Embattled businessman Jignesh Shah promoted Atom Technologies will no longer issue pre-paid cards as it has surrendered its licence as a payment system operator to RBI citing business restructuring.
However, the company will continue to remain operational in other verticals like merchant aggregation and payment services across various channels like point of sale, ecom/internet, IVR as well as mobile.
The Reserve Bank today said it has cancelled the certificate of authorisation (COA) of Atom Technologies after the company voluntary surrendered the licence.
The cancellation took effect from yesterday. Atom had initiated the surrender process in August last year.
In a communication to prepaid account holders on its website, Atom Technologies said it surrendered the COA to RBI due to business restructuring.

"Following the cancellation of the COA, the said company cannot transact the business of pre-paid card issuance," RBI said in a notification.

RBI said customers or merchants having a valid claim, if any, on Atom Technologies can approach the company for settlement of claims within two years from the date of cancellation i.E. Up to July 3, 2019.
Atom has asked Pre-Payment Instrument (PPI) holders to redeem their balances and close the account by sending a request.
Atom works as a Payment System Operator (PSO) under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 of RBI.
The Mumbai headquartered company is into providing end- to-end payment services through online as well as offline platforms.

Atom was started in 2006 as a subsidiary of the Financial Technologies Group, founded by Jignesh Shah.
Shah faced arrest by the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police in May 2014 for his alleged involvement in the Rs 5,600-crore National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam.