LS passes Bill to establish National Payments Corporation of India

New Delhi, Nov 26 (UNI) The Lok Sabha today passed by voice vote a Bill seeking to set up a National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), with at least 51 per cent of the shares owned by public sector banks, to manage the operations of retail payment system in the country.

All the 1068 clearing houses will come under the Authority, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, replying to the debate on the Bill.

The SBI will have 10 per cent stake, while big public sector banks will not have more than 10 per cent equity each in the Authority.

Private sector banks and scheduled corporation banks will also have a stake, which will be decided by the Reserve Bank of India.

Mr Chidambaram said the SEBI and the stock exchanges were not part of it as they were not clearing houses.

The RBI will be the designated licensing authority to regulate the various payment and settlements, including those operated by non-banks such as Clearing Corporation of India, card companies, other payment system providers and the NPCI.

The Bill also empowers the RBI to levy fines and penalties on those who do not provide information or documents or wrongfully disclose information.

It also seeks to empower the Securities Appellate Tribunals to settle disputes between the RBI and the systems providers.

Mr Chidmbaram said the Bill will not lead to loss of jobs in the RBI as CCIL and others would continue to do their operations.

Those who spoke on the Bill included Mr Varkala Radhakrishnan (CPM), Mr Sudhakar Reddy (CPI) and Mr Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD).

UNI