Page 39 - Banking Finance November 2017

ARTICLE

4. Near Field Communication (NFC) internet), delivery of government services digitally and also
Contactless payment is the new trend in the Payments increasing digital literacy. This initiative will bring in
industry worldwide. NFC (Near Field Communication) is a enormous opportunity for banks to innovate and expand
wireless technology that enables a variety of contactless services to vast majority of rural population though
applications, such as payments. Contactless payment card electronic deliverables.
enables the consumers pay with a simple tap of their card.
Deepak Mohanty committee set by RBI to prepare a five
The NFC enabled terminal transmits payment details without year financial inclusion strategy, suggested low cost mobile
the need to swipe the card. It's an ideal alternative of solutions for last mile delivery of banking products and
traditional, cash heavy environments where speed is proposed that the government marry mobile technology
essential-fast food restaurants, gas stations, pharmacies, with Jan Dhan Yojana.
and convenience stores, among others. The major benefit
to the customers is convenience and reduction in the Security Risk & Measures of Mitigation
transaction time thus reducing queues and waiting time for Rapidly evolving technology poses some challenges as well.
the customer at payment counters. Contactless card offers On the one hand technology has made banking easily
a very easy, fast & secure way of payment. accessible and convenient to the large section of the society,
while on the other hand security risk has also increased in
5. Blockchain Technology the cyberspace considerably. The major security threats that
Blockchain is a network of computers, all of which must the banks face are: Hacking, Spam, Phishing, Spoofing, Social
approve a transaction, that has taken place before it is Engineering, Session Hijacking, Malwares, Spywares, Denial
recorded, in a "chain" of computer code. A major advantage of Services (DoS), Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS),
of blockchain is that it can enable faster payments. Masquerading, Eavesdropping, etc.
Cryptography is used to keep transactions secure and costs
are shared among those in the network. The technology is Banks are taking a number of measures to meet the
likely to be used to distribute, verify and record a wide range challenges arising on account of cybercrimes, like regular
of financial services, making the financial system more testing of their security architecture, installation and
decentralized. Some risks will be eliminated, while some new updation of antivirus on all compuers, regular updation of
risks will emerge. softwares, installation of Intrusion detection System (IDS),
vulnerability and assessment testing, introduction of Active
Government & RBI's Initiatives towards Directory Service (ADS) and Bometric Authentication,

Digital Banking physical access control, appointment of Chief information
Officer ( CIO), regular training of the staff members and
The Government & the RBI are proving great enabler of
increasing awareness among the customers. Banks need to
tech adoption. They have created conducive policy and
increase spending on cyber security, not only to protect
regulatory framework to promote technology in Banks and
themselves from existing cyber threats but also from
to reach out to hitherto financially excluded segment of
emerging challenges in virtual world.
customers, thereby tapping the enormous opportunities at
the Bottom of the Pyramid by bridging the urban rural digital Conclusion
divide.
Internet is transforming consumer behaviour in India. India
The recently launched Prime Minister Digital India initiative has been ranked as the 3rd largest digital population
aims at integrating the government and related worldwide by Internet lifestyles. The country has around 432
departments and the public with the objective of making million Internet users as on December 2016. Rapidly falling
public services available to citizens electronically by reducing smartphone prices, continued investment in 3G and 4G
paperwork. The Digital India initiative aims at creation of technology infrastructure and cheaper high speed internet
nationwide digital infrastructure (broadband / high speed access are likely to spur the digital banking growth.

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