A push for RuPay cards

This refers to ‘Creditable move’ (July 11). The recent draft circular issued by the RBI prohibiting card issuers from entering into any pre-arrangement with card networks is a welcome move which will provide a level-playing field to all card networks, which was hitherto tilted in favour of global card network providers like MasterCard, Visa and Amex. India has always been a much sought after territory targeted by these network providers. With servers located outside India, this has led to severe data security issues leading to compromising on customer confidentiality. On the other hand, the RuPay card launched by NPCI, which is patronised by public, private and co-op banks, was always struggling to find a foothold among Indian card-holders. Now that the RBI intends card issuers be given the option to their eligible customers to choose anyone among the multiple networks, the anomaly gets rectified providing the required visibility to RuPay cards.

Srinivasan Velamur

Chennai

Monitor loans

This is with reference to ‘Strong loan growth, stable credit cost may prop up banks’ first-quarter show’ (July 11). While it is good that banks are building up their credit portfolio substantially in the current fiscal, bankers also have to realise that every credit decision has inherent risks. This is true especially in the case of unsecured loans, which may become non-performing assets if not monitored regularly.

Katuru Durga Prasad Rao

Hyderabad

Fostering innovation

With reference to ‘Innovation needs a policy catalyst’ (July 11), the major hurdle in successive implementation of the new policy is that of the envisaged target corpus of ₹50,000 crore, the government’s proposed share is nominal. Considering that majority of the institution/university supported research projects are often shelved midway, the scope for sourcing funds from the private sector is limited. To mitigate this challenge, policymakers should provide risk protection to the investors either in the form of government guarantees or insurance.

Sitaram Popuri

Bengaluru

Achieving the SDGs

This refers to ‘UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are mission impossible’ (July 11). In 2015, 193 member countries of the UN agreed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), to be achieved by 2030.

That raises the question: are these goals still within reach? We need a shift of thinking from “what is happening to me” to “what is happening to us”. However, it is not about the individuals having to address all SDGs simultaneously. Anyone person, community or business can commit to address one or more SDGs based on their priorities — ultimately enabling us to collectively address all of them over time.

S Muthulakshmi

Virudhunagar, TN

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