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RBI Tries to Introduce Norms for Mobile Banking - Cashless Society 2.0?
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It all started with RBI suddenly realizing the importance & wide array of applications of mobile banking and planned to start working on operative norms! According to their draft, banks are supposed to get explicit written permissions from their customers and one time registrations to be done to take care of all formalities.
Sounds simple and exciting, isn’t it? Well, mobile banking, to some extent, have been on for quite some time now. Banks like ICICI and StanChart allow you to check your account balance on the mobile itself. There are a lot many banks that also allow you to recharge your mobile credit by registering your mobile number with your bank and then all you need to do is send a simple text instructing the amount to be credited. Other applications that we already use are movie ticket booking, transferring money to different accounts and also paying bills using specific services like PayMate.
However, now, if banks themselves start allowing their customers to pay via mobiles, I am very concerned about the need of mobile payment portals like PayMate, OxyCash and ZipCash? The way this system looks to me, RBI is planning to turn your mobile phone into another debit card which is more rampant is use than credit cards. Moreover, it also becomes cheaper for the merchants who shall no more need to install expensive gadgets and dedicated phone lines, further cutting their costs, and also preventing them from passing on the extra 1.8% payment that the banks normally charge for card payments.
We are gradually advancing towards an age of cashless society. I remember once discussing with a few friends over converting every form of payment into biometric form and remove cash altogether. However, we later realized it would be very tough to buy cigarettes from your local paanwallah, in that case 
If mBanking falls through, with a secured system and enough services & flexibility, all the paanwallah might need to get paid is a mobile phone to get a confirmation of his payment.
Alas! No great idea gets implemented without initial hiccups. Noticing that banks like SBI, UBI and Bank of India are already planning to to introduce mBanking applications for its consumers, RBI felt it is just too early a stage and advised every bank to keep their mobile payment services on hold until final guidelines are issued. According to ContentSutra, the final guidelines are expected in two weeks, by which, we hope, banks work extra time to come up with brilliant applications that they can launch all at once.
Hallelujah for Reserve Bank of India for finally coming up actively in the economic world’s advancement to the information age!
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