Last month, the RBI released a Discussion Paper on Wholesale & Long-Term Finance Banks. Yet, even as innovative banking models are being discussed, regulation is slow to adapt to the changing landscape. For instance, the Internal Working Group on Rationalisation of Branch Authorisation Policy submitted its report last October, but decisions are pending on crucial recommendations i.e. moving away from the emphasis on brick-and-mortar branches, expanding the definition of a banking outlet and redefining an unbanked rural area. Meanwhile Small Finance Banks report finding it difficult to fulfil the mandate of setting up 25% of their branches in unbanked rural areas in the first year. See Small finance banks seek relaxed norms to meet financial inclusion goals.

Regulators have to learn to be nimbler, and the RBI has to prepare itself to meet evolving technology. So far, apart from issuing a warning to the public regarding risks of virtual currency, there has been no word from the RBI on the possibility of regulating cryptocurrencies in the future. The Watal Committee on Digital Payments had recommended evaluating the possibility of RBI issued digital currency and testing a proof of concept. The time has come for more open discussion to gear India up to emerging opportunities. Read Casey Hynes on How Cryptocurrencies & Blockchain Could Solve Asia's Financial Inclusion Issue.

All eyes are on Wednesday 10th May when the Supreme Court’s judgement on the constitutional validiity of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act is due – while the government’s decision to link Aadhaar to the PAN has been passed by Parliament, petitioners have contested this raising issues of privacy and data sharing. What the Supreme Court says may have implications restricting the current spate of authorities and private parties using Aadhaar. See Govt’s stand on Aadhaar for PAN could ‘dilute civil liberties’: Supreme Court told.

• A Bank Should Be Something One Can “Bank” Upon: Dr. Viral V Acharya, Deputy Governor, RBI, 28 April 2017

• Pradhan Mantri Jan - Dhan Yojana
• ATM Progress for the quarter ending December, 2016
• Position of Bank Mitra Infrastructure
• Monthly Report sent to PMO for the month of March, 2017 on DBT
• MGNREGS:Grievance Redressal Rules formation concerning 10 States
• Financial Literacy Week

INDIA

• India Stack: Major Potential, but Mind the Risks
• Digital India: P2P lending can play a pivotal role in financial inclusion
• Business correspondents, bank network vital for financial inclusion
• Cash-Mukt Bharat Still Faces Several Challenges
• How to transform India from cash to cash-less: Paradigm shift in thought process required
• India Post Payment Bank to open 650 branches this year
• Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank to open first branch by first half of 2017
• Making payments pay
• Aircel may approach RBI for Payments Bank licence
• Airtel Payments Bank gets 1000 villages to go digital
• Paytm to pump in Rs 10000 crore into banking, financial services
• Janalakshmi Financial Services gets final nod for SFB
• NPCI CEO A.P. Hota says number of digital transactions declining

INTERNATIONAL

• From OTC to Mobile Accounts: Easypaisa’s Journey
• Designing User-Friendly USSD Interface for Digital Financial Services
• Do Financial Service Providers Really Understand Savings Group Members?
• Digital Credit’s Evolving Landscape: 3 Things You Need to Know
• Making Markets Work for the Poor — Science, Art or Speculation?
• Decoding QR Codes: Are they useful for merchant payments in emerging markets?
• Should Other Countries Build Their Own India Stack?
• Bangladesh recognised for financial inclusion
• 6 challenges to financial inclusion in South Africa

• Aadhaar: Inclusive by Design – A Look at India’s National Identity Programme and its Role in the JAM Trinity,GSMA, 27 March 2017
• Global Mobile Money Dataset, GSMA, 26 April 2017
• Digitizing Value Chain Finance for Smallholder Farmers, Max Mattern and Rossana M. Ramírez, CGAP, 20 April 2017
• Mystery Shopping for Digital Financial Services,Michelle Kaffenberger and Danielle Sobol, CGAP, 19 April 2017
• The Business Case for Customer Centricity,Lisa Stahl, Barbara Magnoni and Gerhard Coetzee, CGAP, 18 April 2017
• Digital Rails, Olga Morawczynski et al, CGAP, 18 April 2017
• Fraud in Mobile Financial Services, Mercy Buku and Rafe Mazer, 17 April 2017

• Monitoring the Progress of Financial Inclusion in India - Policy Brief March,2017
• Solving the USSD imbroglio - Policy Brief November,2016
• India's financial inclusion update