Page 9 - Banking Finance November 2024

RBI CORNER

RBI removes restrictions

on IIFL Finance
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
removed the restrictions imposed on
the gold loan business of IIFL Finance.
It had imposed curbs on the company
for sanctioning or disbursing gold loans
in March this year, citing supervisory Ò»©­
concerns.
In an exchange filing, the company
said, "the RBI's decision to lift restric-
tions is effective immediately and al-
lows the company to resume sanction-
ing, disbursal, assignment,
securitisation, and sale of gold loans in EPS 1st in 10 years to get RBI nod to set up ATMs
compliance with all relevant laws and Electronic Payment and Services (EPS) has become the fifth company to re-
regulations." ceive a license to operate white-label ATMs (WLAs) in India, marking the
first such approval in a decade. The company plans to deploy 9,000 WLAs
Government names new nationwide within three years under the brand name EPS Bancs.
external members for RBI's Mani Mamallan, chairman and MD of EPS, said that the objective is to en-
hance banking services, particularly in semi-urban and rural regions, by ex-
MPC panding the geographical reach of ATMs.

The government reconstituted the
"Over the past few years, cash in circulation has consistently grown, main-
Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Com-
taining a steady percentage of GDP-around 12%. Despite the rise in digital
mittee (MPC) by appointing econo- payments, this growth underscores the enduring utility of physical currency.
mists Ram Singh, Saugata It also highlights the importance of a diversified payment ecosystem. Poor
Bhattacharya and Nagesh Kumar to internet connectivity in semi-urban and rural areas often causes mobile pay-
the crucial six-member rate-setting ment devices to fail. ATMs, being fixed in one location, enjoy more stable
panel for four years, or until further connections, ensuring smoother transactions and fewer failures," said
orders.
Mamallan.
The new members will fill in the vacan- Mamallan said that trust issues with digital payments, particularly with dis-
cies created by the exit of Ashima pute resolution, make ATMs a crucial part of the financial infrastructure in
Goyal, Jayanth Varma and Shashank semi-urban and rural areas. Currently, there are five WLA operators in In-
Bhide once their four-year term comes dia: EPS, India1 Payments, Hitachi Payment Services, Tata Communications
to an end this week. The MPC is sched- Payment Solutions, and Vakrangee.
uled to meet next on October 7-9 to
review the monetary policy.
and retailers, a series of research pa- While consumers fret about tomato,
Farmers get third of pers published by RBI on food inflation onion and potato (TOP) prices at least
has showed. This is in contrast to other twice a year as prices soar on seasonal
veggies' retail price: RBI sectors, such as dairy, where farmers factors such as excess or deficient rains

study receive around 70% of the final price. or high or low temperatures, it is not
as farmers are benefiting. The papers
Indian farmers are getting only about Egg producers seem to be best placed, estimated that farmers receive approxi-
one-third of the final selling price of getting 75% of the final price, while for mately 33% of the consumer price for
fruits and vegetables, while a majority poultry meat, farmers and aggregators tomatoes, 36% for onions, and 37% for
share is skimmed away by wholesalers together account for 56% of the price. potatoes.

8 | 2024 | NOVEMBER | BANKING FINANCE