RBI appoints Nilekani as head of panel to boost digital payments

The five-member panel on deepening of digital payments has been constituted with a view to encourage digitisation of payments and enhance financial inclusion through digitisation, the RBI said in a statement. “The committee shall submit its report within a period of 90 days from the date of its first meeting,” it added. The panel has been tasked with reviewing the existing status of digitisation of payments in the country, identifying the current gaps in the ecosystem and suggesting ways to bridge them and assessing the current levels of digital payments in financial inclusion. It will also “suggest measures to strengthen the safety and security of digital payments... (and) a road map for increasing customer confidence and trust while accessing financial services through digital modes”.

It has also been asked to undertake cross country analyses with a view to identify best practices that can be adopted in our country to accelerate digitisation of the economy and financial inclusion through greater use of digital payments. Another term of reference of the panel, the RBI said is to suggest a medium-term strategy for deepening of digital payments. Besides Infosys co-founder Nilekani, other panel members are former RBI deputy governor HR Khan, Vijaya Bank former MD-CEO Kishore Sansi and IT and steel ministries former secretary Aruna Sharma. Sanjay Jain, chief innovation officer, Centre for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship, IIM-A, is the fifth member.

A high-level panel led by former RBI governor Bimal Jalan on Tuesday held its first meeting to decide on an appropriate size of reserves that the central bank should maintain and the dividend it should give to the government. The six-member panel is likely to submit its report in April, sources said. The panel has been entrusted with the task of reviewing the best practices followed by central banks worldwide in making assessment and provisions for risks which a central bank balance sheets are subject to.

The panel having former economic affairs secretary Rakesh Mohan as its VC will propose a suitable profit distribution policy taking into account all the likely situations of RBI, including the situation of holding more provisions than required. The Centre and RBI under previous governor Urjit Patel had been at loggerheads over the Rs 9.6 lakh crore surplus capital with the central bank.