Financial Inclusion - News And Views - March 2017

 
 

India continues to stand out amongst emerging economies with its unique market-wide approach to enhancing digital payments and financial inclusion. February saw the launch of the Bharat QR Code, an interoperable low cost acceptance solution developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), MasterCard and Visa. This move followed the Reserve Bank of India’s guidance given in its Payments Vision 2018, that outlined innovation, interoperability, and security as the three pillars to facilitate India’s transition to a less–cash society.

As Ignacio Mas, Executive Director of Digital Frontiers Institute, notes,(MicroSave, February 2017) the ultimate aim of the government and regulator is to create a “ubiquitous, low-cost network”, and this is being done by leveraging scale and network effects at the market-level.He has listed some key issues that need to be addressed at the current juncture, which need more attention in public discourse:

• In such an interoperable model, where every player can potentially benefit from the actions of other players, will there be sufficient incentives for the deployment of an effective cash in/cash out network – which remains the toughest nut to crack in any digital money network?
• As entities linked to government take on the role of delivering more and more component elements of the digital financial services value chain (e.g. UIDAI, NPCI, CCA, NeGD), what is the right governance model under which they should operate, to ensure that they remain focused on the public interest and not just in promoting their own organizational agendas?
• As the competitive environment becomes complex, will the authorities be able to keep on top of market practices and ensure that the regulatory framework remains pro-competitive?
• As more of people´s data is digitized, there will inevitably be strong commercial pressures for people to share more and more data in order to be able to access advanced digital services. Beyond the usual privacy protection concerns, how can we place limits on how much data customers have to give up as the price of digital inclusion?


FinTechs and Virtual Currency: Shri R. Gandhi, Deputy Governor. RBI, March 1, 2017
Payment Systems- Next Orbit: Shri R. Gandhi, Deputy Governor, RBI, February 20, 2017
Financing MSMEs: Banks &FinTechs – Competition, Collaboration or Competitive Collaboration?: Shri S. S. Mundra, Deputy Governor, February 20, 2017

 
 
 
 
 
 

Reserve Bank of India seeks Comments on Draft Circular on Rationalisation of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for Debit Card Transactions
Pradhan Mantri Jan - Dhan Yojana
Trend of Zero Balance Accounts under PMJDY
Position of Overdraft
Position of Bank Mitra Infrastructure
Monthly Report sent to PMO for the month of January, 2017 on DBT
Formation of twenty one new districts in the State of Telangana - Assignment of Lead Bank Responsibility


INDIA

Banks eye 1 mn merchants on Bharat QR network
Govt, payment banks in talks to enable common services centers to act as business correspondents
How mobile phones can connect 'unbanked' people and solve India's financial crisis
Digital payments industry in India to be worth USD 500 bn by 2020
Nabard begins survey to study effects of financial inclusion
Simplicity is key for India Post Payments Bank: CEO
Microfinance major Ujjivan commences its small finance bank operations
Why We're Excited About Technology Stacks for Financial Inclusion
Why we can't hurry into Digital India, leaving the poor behind
Moving toward one-click loans for all
Where do payments banks currently stand?
Government to set digital targets for banks, payment firms
What women want
Loan approvals done in 7 minutes, not 7 days
India's Real-Time Look At Moving Cash To Digital
How the mobile can power digital India
FinoPaytech to launch payment bank, targets high domestic remittance areas
Will Universal Basic Income Replace Safety Net Payments in India?

 

INTERNATIONAL

Daily Energy Payments Powering Digital Finance in Ghana
Market Facilitation: Unpacking New Evidence from Africa
Will Brazil Go Digital?
5 Challenges for Women’s Financial Inclusion
Responsible Digital Credit for Merchants: Insights from Kenya
How to Better Serve Customers: Insights from 5 Research Projects
Mastercard And The Future Of Financial Inclusion
Fastest-Growing African Economy Has Banks Lined Up for Entry
Financial Inclusion, Across Channels, Countries And Choice
Mastercard and Citi team on financial inclusion for low-income women


India’s Push for Financial Inclusion:Leena
Datwani, CGAP, February 2, 2017

State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money Decade Edition: GSMA, February 28, 2017

 
 
 
 
 
 

Financial Inclusion in India: Going beyond SCBs
Urgent need for a privacy law in this digital world
Solving the USSD imbroglio - Policy Brief November,2016
Payments banks in uncharted territory - Mint, 29 November 2016
Better regulation for a less-cash economy - Mint, 15 November 2016


Editor:sumita@indicus.org The Indicus Centre for Financial Inclusion was launched in 2011 to distil and disseminate information on accelerating the poor’s access to high-quality financial services. The centre is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
©Indicus Centre for Financial Inclusion.All rights reserved. 4th March 2017
 

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