Ensuring continuity in payment operations by Paytm users, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Thursday allowed the company to continue UPI transactions through four banks — SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Yes Bank.

The decision comes a day before Reserve Bank’s March 15 deadline barring Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) from accepting deposits, credit transactions or top-ups in any customer accounts. One97 Communications Limited (OCL), owner of the Paytm brand, holds a 49 per cent stake in PPBL.

All PPBL customers have been advised by the RBI to shift to other banks by March 15. PPBL had about 30 crore wallets and 3 crore bank customers.

“NPCI has today granted approval to One97 Communications Limited (OCL) to participate in UPI as a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) under multi-bank model,” the payment infrastructure provider said in a statement.

The four banks will act as PSP (Payment System Provider) banks to OCL.

“Yes Bank shall be acting as merchant acquiring bank for existing and new UPI merchants for OCL,” NPCI said.

Further, it said ‘@Paytm’ handle would be redirected to Yes Bank, “enabling existing users and merchants to continue to do UPI transactions and autoPay mandates” in a seamless and uninterrupted manner.

OCL has been advised to complete the migration for all existing handles and mandates, wherever required, to new PSP banks at the earliest, NPCI said.

Last week, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said as many as 80-85 per cent Paytm wallet users will not face any disruption.