RBI to release norms for single authentication in a month: Khan

To make online transactions easier, the Reserve Bank will soon come out with single authentication payment norms for low value e-commerce transactions without any compromise on security.

The criteria to decide on low value transaction will be decided by the norms expected to be released in a month.

"One area is that we are looking at small payments where we have two factor authentication. Whether we can create a system where we can avoid the second factor authentication so that the small transactions can go... (For) arrangement between customer liability and provider liability, we can work out something. We are discussing with banks," RBI Deputy Governor H R Khan said at Inclusive Finance India Global Summit here today.

Currently, two-step authentication is generally prevalent in the country unlike developed nations. First step of authentication is feeding PIN and next step is punching in of secure code or One Time PIN (OTP).

"Maybe we will go for a small amount where we need not have second factor authentication. That amount could be (Rs) 1000, 2000 or 3000," he said.

"I am not able to tell your the amount at the moment but that is what we are working at so that small value, low ticket we can get out of the second factor authentication without compromising on customer's liability and provider's liability," he said.

Asked by when guidelines on small ticket transactions will be issued, he said: "I suppose within a month's time."

Asked about the debt switch, Khan said, RBI has some plan but did not elaborate on this.

"We have got some plans to do it (bond switch)," he said.

Under a debt switch programme, the government plans to buy short-dated debt, and in turn sell longer duration G-secs, in an effort to spread out redemptions of debt to later years.

It is expected that insurance companies may be asked to go in for bond switch.

This will help government manage its account by postponing the payment of those bonds which is due for maturity by issuing bonds of future date.

Speaking after RBI policy review in December last year, Governor Raghuram Rajan had said that the aim of the debt switch would be to cause little disruption to bond markets.

"It will be investors who have the same maturity appetite who would redeem the bonds and take up the new bonds," he had said.