RBI Deputy Governor opposes free licensing of payment sector

Latest News - RBI's Deputy Governor Rama Subramaniam Gandhi on Monday said granting licences to payment service providers cannot be a 'tick box exercise' as entities will be entrusted with money, and so fit and proper criterion is important.

"There is an implied suggestion that this (payment) sector needs to be freed of licensing mechanism and once a set of criteria are fixed, any number of entities meeting those criteria should be allowed to function. We differ from this idea," Gandhi said at the launch of BharatQR, an inter-operable payment solution.

"Such a free entry may not be appropriate for payment industry. We must remember that the payment service provider is entrusted with money and therefore 'fit and proper' criterion is of utmost importance and consequently, free entry based on tick box exercise will not be right and it can pose a risky proposition to the system as a whole," he said.(Read More)