Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

RBI’s vision document for 2018:

Imagine a world when you can just swipe a card or touch a button on your mobile phone to buy a bus ticket or to pay toll at a toll booth or to make a payment at a merchant counter. If the Reserve Bank of India’s Vision Document on Payments and Settlements System, which was released on Thursday, is to be believed all this might become a reality by 2018.

The RBI report says that it would frame policy that would increase access to mobile banking services even to non smart phone users in multiple languages. To give boost to electronic transactions RBI would review guidelines relating to mobile banking, white label ATM, National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), and pre-paid instruments which include m-wallets, pre-paid cards and paper vouchers

The banking regulator listed out unified payments interface (UPI)- an online platform for peer to peer mobile payments, electronification of the pan-India toll collection system and automated fare collection in mass transit systems to together promote interoperability and increased accessibility of digital payments.

The RBI initiative stems from a sharp jump in electronic transactions. Data released by RBI shows the value of mobile banking transactions rose four times to Rs 4,02,204 ..

The RBI initiative stems from a sharp jump in electronic transactions. Data released by RBI shows the value of mobile banking transactions rose four times to Rs 4,02,204 crore in 2015-16 over the previous year, while the value of transactions through mobile wallets stood at Rs 49,014 crore in 2015-16, more than double that of the previous year.

The central theme of RBI report revolves around “increasing adoption of electronic payments, particularly those driving e-commerce and mcommerce, there is a growing demand for “faster? payment services which, in turn, facilitate ease in doing financial transactions.”

In an effort to get more retail payments to be made digitally, the RBI also wants to encourage banks to install point of sale (PoS) terminals where payments can be made through a swipe of a card at kirana shops, healthcare centres and even government centres. Further through the implementation of the Bharat Bill Payments System with NPCI, the RBI wants to ease the process of bill payments.


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