The Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced setting up of a 24x7 helpline for digital payment services as well as enabling participation in CTS clearing across all bank branches in the country.

Noting that its Payment Systems Vision document envisages setting up a 24x7 helpline for addressing customer queries on various digital payment products, the RBI said the helpline will, in addition to building trust and confidence, also reduce expenditure on both financial and human resources, otherwise incurred for addressing queries and grievances.

“The major payment system operators would be required to facilitate setting-up of a centralised industry-wide 24x7 helpline for addressing customer queries in respect of various digital payment products and give information on available grievance redress mechanisms by September 2021,” said the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory policies.

Going forward, the facility of registering and resolving customer complaints through the helpline shall be considered.

Further, to manage the attendant risks in outsourcing and ensure that a code of conduct is adhered to while outsourcing payment and settlement related services, the Reserve Bank shall issue guidelines to operators and participants of authorised payment systems.

Meanwhile, the RBI has also proposed to bring all bank branches under the Cheque Truncation System (CTS) clearing mechanism by September.

Separate operational guidelines will be issued in a month’s time, it said, noting that this would help bring operational efficiency in paper-based clearing and make the process of collection and settlement of cheques faster resulting in better customer service.