RBI appoints Nandan Nilekani as Chairman of Digital Payments Panel

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yesterday appointed former UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) Chief Nandan Nilekani as the chairman of a five-member high-level Committee to head the digital payments panel.

The Committee on Deepening of Digital Payments will be chaired by Nandan Nilekani, the RBI said in a statement.

The Committee, which will have four other members, will review the existing status of digitisation of payments in the country and assess the current levels of digital payments in financial inclusion, according to the RBI.

Infosys Co-founder Nandan Nilekani has served as Chairman of the UIDAI, which manages the biometrics-based personal identification programme — Aadhaar.

Members on the Committee include former RBI Deputy Governor H.R. Khan, former Vijaya Bank CEO Kishore Sansi and former IT Secretary Aruna Sharma.

The Central Bank also appointed Sanjay Jain, Chief Innovation Officer, Centre for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE), Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, as Member of the panel.

The panel will “undertake cross country analysis with a view to identify best practices that can be adopted in our country to accelerate digitisation of the economy and financial inclusion through greater use of digital payments”, the RBI noted.

The Committee is required to suggest steps to strengthen the safety and security of digital payments in the country, and provide a roadmap for increasing customer confidence while accessing financial services through digital modes, the Central Bank further said.

The panel, which will also suggest a medium-term strategy for deepening of digital payments, will submit its report within a period of 90 days from the date of its first meeting.

This post was published on January 9, 2019 6:33 pm