• Ratan watal committee has submitted its report on the digital payments infrastructure to the government.
• This committee has representatives from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the tax department and various industry bodies in the payments space.

Terms of Reference for this committee:

• To study and recommend need for charges, if any, in the regulatory mechanism and any legislation, relevant for the purpose of promotion of payments by digital modes.
• To study and recommend ways for leveraging Unique Identification Number or any other proof of identity for authentication of card/digital transactions and setting up of a Centralised KYC Registry;
• To study introduction of single window system of Payment Gateway to accept all types of Cards/ Digital Payments of Government receipts;
• To study feasibility and framing rules for creating a payments history of all Digital Payments and create necessary linkage between payments transaction history and credit information;
• To study and recommend various measures to incentivize transactions through cards and digital means.
• To study global best practices in payments including initiatives taken by various Governments/ Government Agencies
• To identify market failure (s), if any, along with suitable interventions that may be implemented to promote payment by card/digital means
• To identify regulatory bottlenecks, if any, and suggest changes to promote payment by card/ digital means
• To study and make recommendations on any other matter related to promotion of payments through Cards and Digital Means

Recommendations of the report:

• In its Report, the Committee has recommended the medium term strategy for accelerating growth of Digital Payments in India with a regulatory regime which is conducive to bridging the Digital divide by promoting competition, open access & interoperability in payments.
• The Report recommends inclusion of financially and socially excluded groups and assimilation of emerging technologies in the market, while safeguarding security of Digital Transactions and providing level playing to all stakeholders and new players who will enter this new transaction space.
• It has suggested inter-operability of the payments system between banks and non-banks, up-gradation of the digital payment infrastructure and institutions and a framework to reward innovations and for leading efforts in enabling digital payments.