Digital payments up 30.2% in FY21: According to RBI data

Digital payments up 30.2% in FY21: According to RBI data

According to RBI data, digital payments grew by 30.19 per cent in the year ended March 2021, demonstrating the country’s adoption and deepening of cashless transactions. The newly created Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) grew to 270.59 at the end of March 2021, up from 207.84 the previous year.

“In recent years, the RBI-DPI index has shown remarkable growth, indicating the fast adoption and deepening of digital payments across the country.”

The Reserve Bank of India had previously announced the creation of a composite Reserve Bank of India – Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) with March 2018 as the basis to measure the amount of payment digitisation in India.

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The RBI-DPI is made up of five major metrics that can be used to track the depth and penetration of digital payments in the country over time.

Payment Enablers (25 percent weight); Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side variables (10 percent); Payment Infrastructure – Supply-side factors (15 percent); Payment Performance (45 percent); and Consumer Centricity (45 percent) (5 per cent).

Govt’s net tax collection rises 86% to Rs 5.57 lakh crore in Quarter1

The RBI said in January that the index would be issued semi-annually starting in March 2021, with a four-month lag.

RBI & Economy – Monetary Methods!

RBI and Economy – Monetary methods.!

RBI money printing must be the last option, can consider Covid bonds: Subbarao

The central bank can directly print money & finance the govt, but it should avoid doing so unless there is absolutely no alternative, former RBI governor D Subbarao on Wednesday said while pointing out that India is ‘nowhere near such a scenario.

In an interview with PTI, Subbarao suggested that to deal with the second wave of COVID-19 induced slowdown in the economy, the govt can consider Covid bonds as an option to raise
borrowing, not in addition to budgeted borrowing, but as a part of that.

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“It (RBI) can (print money) but, it should avoid doing so unless there is absolutely no alternative. For sure, there are times when monetisation despite its costs – becomes inevitable such as when the govt cannot finance its deficit at reasonable rates.” We are nowhere near such a scenario,” he said. India’s economy contracted by less-than-expected 7.3 per cent in the fiscal ended March 2021. For 2021-22, the deficit has been put at 6.8 per cent of the GDP, which will be further lowered to 4.5 per cent by 2025-26.

The due date for ITR filing for salaried taxpayers extended

Digital Transactions – Way of Life, Safe & Secure!

The Reserve Bank of India has released a certain set rules for payment aggregators and payment gateways to make digital payments safer for users. RBI Guidelines on the regulation of payment aggregators and payment gateways is aimed to reduce the risk of digital payment fraud and to keep users financial data safe.

The guidelines says that payment aggregators, such as Razorpay, CC Avenue, etc., would now have to avoid offering users the option of using ATM PIN to validate / complete online transactions. Payment over Rs 2000 users would only be allowed to use OTP for authentication purposes. Thus, ATM PIN of a individual would not be accessible online to the aggregator or payment gateway (or even the hacker) and thus would be safer.

Here are few measures took by RBI to keep your Digital life safer
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Verification via ATM PIN for online transactions >2k- Mandatory & Not Optional

Payment aggregators can not request ATM PIN for online payment authentication, as per RBI notification,. Currently, some payment aggregators give the customer the option of using their ATM PIN to authenticate online payments. “All digital payments above Rs 2,000 will have to be authenticated on a one-time password (OTP) basis. However, according to RBI guidelines, the authentication of payments below Rs 2,000 through OTP is optional. The decision is taken to ensure that your ATM PIN is not available to anyone and that your card is safe.”

Refunds shall be made to original source of payment

RBI has also demanded payment aggregators to transfer the refund (made due to the  transaction cancellations) back to the customer’s account from which the initial payment was made.

Now, some e-commerce firms are automatically transfer refunds to the customer’s  ewallet (created on the company’s own platform) and not to the bank account , credit card etc. from which the original payment was done. User’s convenience is looked in as this amount can only be used for purchases on that site of e-commerce and nowhere else.

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Background check of merchants

RBI has asked payment aggregators to perform background checks of merchants.

The notification says, “Payment aggregators shall conduct merchants background check to ensure that these merchants have no malafide intent to deceive customers, do not sell fake / counterfeit / prohibited products, etc“. The website of the merchant shall state clearly the terms and conditions of the service and the time-line for processing returns and refunds.

 RBI is attempting to minimize the chances of fraud taking place in the name of reputed websites by asking payment aggregators to ensure that money debiting from the customer’s account is actually credited to the merchant’s account. In addition, customers need to informed during the time of payment that how long it will take to get the money back in case of a refund. This is to ensure that customer has clarity when to expect money in their account.

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Customer Grievance & Dispute Resolution

Payment aggregators will have to appoint a nodal officer to deal with customer complaints and grievances. Payment aggregators shall set up a formal, publicly disclosed customer grievance redress and dispute management framework, including the appointment of a nodal officer to deal with customer complaints / complaints and an escalating matrix. The complaint facility shall be clearly and easily accessible if it is made available on the website / mobile.

Further, Payment Aggregators shall have a dispute resolution mechanism binding on all participants, which shall include a transaction life cycle, a detailed explanation of the types of disputes, a process for dealing with them, compliance, responsibilities of all parties, documentation, reason codes, procedure for dealing with complaints, turn-around time for each stage, etc.

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