Organise special camps on digital payments from April 1: RBI to banks

RBI on Thursday asked banks to organise special camps from April 1 to educate public about digital payments through UPI and 99# (USSD) code platforms.

It said the policy on conduct of camps by FLCs (Financial Literacy Centres) and rural branches of the banks has been revised given the recent developments on withdrawal of legal tender status of old Rs 500/1,000 notes and the focus on going digital.

“FLCs are advised to conduct special camps for a period of one year beginning April 1, 2017 on ‘Going digital’ through UPI and *99# (USSD),” the Reserve Bank of India said while revising the guidelines.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application. The USSD service for fund transfer works without internet.

Besides the special camps on going digital, RBI said FLCs will continue to conduct the tailored camps for the different target groups.

“The tailored content for each target group is currently being prepared and is expected to be shared with banks/FLCs in due course of time,” the RBI said.

Further, rural branches of banks are henceforth required to conduct only one camp per month on the third Friday of each month after branch hours).

FLCs and rural branches of banks can get support for the financial literacy camps to the extent of 60 per cent of the expenditure with a cap at Rs 15,000/per camp.

The RBI has also detailed reporting mechanism for banks and the financial literacy camps will be assessed/evaluated on an ongoing basis by its Lead District Officers (LDOs).

Earlier, lead banks were asked to set up FLCs in each of the Lead District Manager (LDM) Offices.