A bad idea

A separate payments regulator could be counter-productive

The country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India, and the Union government seem to be moving towards an unseemly spat over the issue of regulating payments systems in India. The trouble started last month when an inter-ministerial committee formed by the government for finalising the amendments to the existing Payment & Settlement Systems Act, 2007, proposed a new law altogether. This committee was under the chairmanship of the secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, but also had the RBI’s representation. According to the committee’s recommendation, the government should bring in a law instead of amending the existing one,