RBI unveils sleepless digital transactions

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Unlike the brick-and-mortar world, the digital universe never sleeps. India moved another step in the evolution towards a sleepless digital when Reserve Bank governor Shaktikanta Das announced that from August 1 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) will be working on all days of the week. In other words, it means that transactions can be done on all days and payments can be credited by anyone on any day. The services are now available on working days for banks.

This one small step for RBI signals a giant leap for India’s digitisation journey. In one swift stroke the Reserve Bank governor has demolished barriers hitherto popularly considered insurmountable. The most visible improvement that has been greeted with glee is that salaries can be credited on Sundays and holidays. Usually, employees of most organisations have to now wait for the weekends to get over before salaries are credited if the pay date unfortunately falls on a Sunday or public holiday.

NACH is a bulk payment system that is operated by the National Payments Corporation of India which facilitates credit of different items besides salary like pension, interest, dividends and government doles. Citizens would also find it easy to make all payments such as bills for utility services, loan instalments and insurance premia.

The RBI move is timely since the country is moving towards digital payments. It is quite possible that with further penetration of internet services and smartphones digital payments become the default mode of payment in the country in the later part of this decade. The transition from cash to digital transactions will only be facilitated if the experience of the common man becomes increasingly smooth. With 5G services round the corner, the future of digital transactions looks bright. To push the process the government has to increase policing the cyberworld to keep fraudsters in check.