Ombudsman scheme on anvil for PPI issuers

The Reserve Bank on Friday announced a grievance redressal scheme under which large non-bank entities issuing pre-paid instruments (PPIs) will have to set up Ombudsman to address complaints of customers.

In order to provide a robust mechanism for redressal of customer complaints, the RBI had set up an Ombudsman scheme for digital transactions in January 2019.

"To further strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism at the entity-level itself, it has been decided to institutionalise an internal Ombudsman scheme at the large non-bank PPI issuers (entities who have more than 10 million pre-paid payment instruments outstanding)," it said in a statement on developmental and regulatory policies.

The internal Ombudsman is intended to facilitate a swift and cost-effective complaint redressal mechanism within the entity and provide an additional tier for grievance redressal.

Instructions in this regard will be issued by October 15, 2019, the central bank added.

On liquidity support for the proposed 24x7 National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) System, the RBI said it has been decided that the central bank will extend the collateralised liquidity support, which is currently available till 7.45 pm on NEFT working days, round the clock.

This will help in better fund management by banks, it added.

In August, the RBI had announced it will make available the facility of NEFT 24x7 from December 2019.

It further said with the rapid growth in the issuance of cards, there is a need to ensure growth of acceptance infrastructure across the country, especially in tier III and tier VI centres.

For this, it has been decided to create an 'Acceptance Development Fund' (ADF) in consultation with the stakeholders and the framework will be operationalised by December 2019.

'Payment System Vision Document 2021' of RBI and Nandan Nilekani-headed Committee on Deepening of Digital Payments has outlined several steps to further strengthen the digital payment system.

The Reserve Bank also said that in line with the recommendations of the Nilekani report it will disseminate more granular information on payment data covering the payment systems.

"With this, the entire gamut of payment systems data will be available in the RBI Bulletin/Website," it said.

Also, with a view to expanding and deepening the digital payments ecosystem, the RBI has decided that State/UT Level Bankers Committees (SLBCs/ UTLBCs) will identify one district in their respective areas on a pilot basis in consultation with banks and stakeholders.

"The identified district may be allocated to a bank with significant footprint which will endeavour to make the district 100 per cent digitally enabled," the RBI said.

This, it said would enable every individual in the district to make/receive payments digitally in a safe, secure, quick, affordable and convenient manner.

Guidelines in this regard will be issued shortly, it said.