The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has unveiled a scheme of offline retail payments using cards and mobile devices to foster financial inclusion.
“There has been a considerable growth in digital payments using mobile phones, cards and wallets,” it said.
“Lack of Internet connectivity or low speed of Internet, especially in remote areas, is a major impediment in the adoption of digital payments. Against this backdrop, providing an option of offline payments through cards, wallets and mobile devices is expected to further adoption of digital payments,” said the RBI.
It has also decided on an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) mechanism for digital payments as the number of digital transactions are rising significantly giving rise to more disputes.
“Accordingly, the Reserve Bank shall require payment system operators (PSOs) to introduce online dispute resolution (ODR) systems in a phased manner,” it said.
To reduce instances of fraud occurring on account of tampering of cheque leaves, the RBI has decided to introduce a mechanism of Positive Pay for all cheques of value ₹50,000 and above.
Under this mehcanism, cheques will be processed for payment by the drawee bank based on information passed on by the issuer at the time of issuance of the cheque, according to the central bank.
