RBI Annual Report for review of payment system
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will conduct an annual review of the payment and settlement systems to ensure that customers receive timely, cheap and dependable serviceApnaloan.com Research Bureau
03 Sep 2007
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will conduct an
annual review of the payment and settlement systems to ensure that customers
receive timely, cheap and dependable service.
The first review is proposed for the year-ended
March 31, 2007. Business Standard reports that the review will be based on
parameters like timeliness of customer service, cost of operation, service
charges and the overall impact on the financial system.
RBIs Board for Regulation and Supervision of
Payment and Settlement Systems (BPSS) will give directions and set standards for
payment and settlement systems.
The board is to study payment systems in select
countries, prepare a road map for moving from paper-based products to electronic
payment systems and promote card-based payments as one of the strategies for
increasing the use of electronic payments.
The board has recommended exploring the option of
setting up a low cost cross-border remittance system with neighbouring
countries, especially Nepal, and also proposed an assessment of the real time
gross settlement (RTGS) system and bringing all RTGS-enabled branches under the
national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) system.
The suggestions include looking at the feasibility
of a couple of large banks providing associate memberships to smaller banks to
participate in the cheque truncation system.
While, the RBI had rejected the panel's suggestion
to levy a charge on cheques, the other recommendations for incentivising
electronic payment systems are being considered by the RBI.
The annual turnover, in value terms, in the
various payment and settlement systems rose 37.5 per cent to Rs 4,23,74,063
crore in 2006-07 from Rs 3,08,15,285 crore in 2006.