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In a bid to encourage digital payments, the RBI, on Friday, came out with a series of measures for the sector, including liquidity support for 24x7 National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and the setting up of an Acceptance Development Fund (ADF) for card infrastructure.
The announcements were part of the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies, which was issued along with the fourth bi-monthly monetary policy statement.
The RBI will extend the collateralised liquidity support round-the-clock for NEFT to work on 24x7 basis from December. At present, the collateralised liquidity support is available till 7:45 pm.
“This will help in better funds management by banks,” the RBI said, adding that it will facilitate the smooth settlement of NEFT transactions in the accounts of the banks.
It also plans to set up an ADF to ensure the growth of infrastructure for cards in the country, especially in Tier III and IV centres. This was also suggested in the Payment System Vision Document 2021 of the RBI and by the Committee on Deepening of Digital Payments.
“It has been decided to create an Acceptance Development Fund, in consultation with the stakeholders. The framework will be operationalised by December,” it said.
Internal ombudsman
The RBI announced a grievance redressal scheme under which large non-banking entities issuing pre-paid instruments (PPIs) will have to set up an internal ombudsman scheme to address the complaints of customers.
“To further strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism at the entity-level itself, it has been decided to institutionalise an internal ombudsman scheme at the large non-banking PPI issuers,” it said.
The RBI had set up an ombudsman scheme for digital transactions in January this year. Those eligible under the new scheme would have more than 1 crore pre-paid payment instruments outstanding.
“The internal ombudsman is intended to facilitate a swift and cost-effective complaint redressal mechanism within the entity and provide an additional tier for grievance redressal,” it said, adding that instructions will be issued by October 15.
Payments ecosystem
To expand and deepen digital payments, State/UT-level bankers’ committees (SLBCs/ UTLBCs) will now be expected to identify one district in their respective States/UTs on a pilot basis, in consultation with banks and stakeholders.
“The identified district may be allocated to a bank with significant footprint, which will endeavour to make the district 100 per cent digitally-enabled,” the RBI said, adding that guidelines would be issued soon.
The RBI also said that in line with the recommendations of the Nilekani report, it will disseminate more granular information on payment data covering the payment systems.
“With this, the entire gamut of payment systems data will be available in the RBI bulletin and website,” it said.
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