MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put consumer empowerment through mobile banking accounts and cross-border efficiency at the heart of its Payments Vision 2028, signaling a new focus on improving user experience and reducing friction in the movement of money.While customers can open accounts freely with any bank, savings accounts are considered “stable” because there are multiple standing instructions to send and receive money in the designated account. RBI’s work to overcome this stickiness is a payment transfer service where all standing instructions are centralized. This centralized interface will allow customers to view and relay all payment authorizations, both incoming and outgoing, reducing reliance on individual banks making accounts transferable.
The main thrust is to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper and more convenient. The central bank plans to conduct a comprehensive review of the ecosystem to identify regulatory, operational and technological bottlenecks, and align local regulations with global standards formulated by the G20.The proposed changes are aimed at lowering entry barriers for businesses, encouraging innovation and reducing delays in cross-border money transfers, even as India signs agreements with other countries to link domestic fast payments systems and enable acceptance of central bank digital currencies.
