RBI to make periodic review of mobile banking guidelines: MPFI

Mumbai, Nov 18 (UNI) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has agreed to review, once in six months, the guidelines on mobile banking, issued on October 7 this year.

Talking to newsmen here, Mobile Payment Forum of India (MPFI) Chairman Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala said such a review would take into account the developments in the field.

He said already six banks have implemented mobile banking facility and four were in the process.

Dr Jhunjhunwala, who was here in connection with the fifth meeting of MPFI, said that the situation for mobile banking in India was entirely different, as it involved a large number of Banks and also a huge number of telecom operators, which posed interoperability and inter-transfer problems. However, he expressed confidence that the system over the course of a short period would be successful, as mobile banking had been accepted very widely.

On transaction fee, he said that the telecom operators, who would be involved in the transfers, could either fix a monthly fee or charge on consumers depending upon the transfer amount. Both banks and telecom operators could consider free transfer when small amounts were involved.

The MPFI, which had worked in consultation with the RBI to prepare a report on Mobile Banking GTransactions in India--Operative Guidelines for Banks, has also recently come out with a report on Mobile Banking for Financial inclusion, using the Business Correspondents model.

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