Page 35 - Banking Finance November 2022

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these services but also to help new consumers make the best people. Imparting the financial and digital literacy should
use of these services as per their needs. be aggressively galvanised to create demand side while
supply side is adequately taken care by introducing
The financial sector has to work on creating an ecosystem innovative digital products and the benefits of the financial
in how these new set of services are brought to the notice inclusion can only be imparted only when the demand side
of intended target group of customers so that it will Impart of banking services is created in the community.
digital literacy to the feature phone users to register their
In addition to this also RBI should think to create more
mobile number and to understand the scope and range of
institutions like NPCI in order to tackle the economic
services will continue to be an important limitation. In our
environment where volumes and transactions are set to rise
country many of the feature phone holders are aged and
exponentially. Also strategies needed to create awareness
might not be literate enough to adopt the product.
among the masses along with introduction of New Umbrella
Entity (NUE) for payment systems which will be combined
to strengthen demand to create transaction volumes much
higher than the systems can perceive.

Concluding remarks
The above initiatives are envisioned to accelerate the
process of digital adoption in India, by creating a richer and
inclusive ecosystem that can accommodate larger sections
of population. Digital payments through UPI have grown
more manifold since its launch in 2016. The number of digital
transactions exceeds 400 crores involving an amount of Rs
8.26 lakh crore in February alone this year, twice the number
of transactions made the previous year.
After the successful implementation of this digital initiative
There are roughly about 40 crore feature phone users in our
definitely the footfall will be reduced in the branch and bank
country, so choices are substantially limited. Hence it is
branches can undertake more qualitative activities so it is
important to make UPI available offline and on feature
the responsibility of the bank to impart the knowledge
phones. The launch of UPI123Pay will boost digital payments
among the community. In order to make it more fruitful and
and will deepen the digital payments network, especially in
penetrate the same to ground level the collaborations to
rural areas. But again it all includes about its importance,
be done along with panchayats, post offices and block level
awareness, advertisement, knowledge and acquisition
authorities to record messages in local language, print small
among the rural masses so that the same will be successful
leaflets and broadcast them to bring these services closer
and more pronounced than that of earlier initiatives.
to people while the state government and local self-
government can also make collaboration among the banks, Sources:
educational institute and other institutes to educate more RBI,TOI, Taxmann.com
E-rupee for retail users to be launched this month: RBI governor
The RBI has started a pilot program of its digital currency, allowing select banks to use it for settling secondary-
market transactions in government securities. On Day 1, banks traded Rs. 275 crore of bonds on the first day using
the new form of currency. The retail part of the trial of e-rupee will be launched this month.
Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy committee (MPC) will meet on Thursday, outside its scheduled meetings, to
discuss its first ever inflation target miss, which will require it to write a letter to the government. The central bank
aims to keep retail inflation within 2 percentage points on either side of its 4% target over the medium-term. Here
is what RBI chief Shaktikanta Das said at a banking conclave organized by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (FICCI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

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