RBI posts report on EBT in website

Mumbai, Apr 24 (UNI) The Reserve Bank of India today placed on its website the report of the Committee for suggesting a framework for Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) to ensure government payments reach the ultimate beneficiaries using the banking channels.

The Committee has, in its report, made recommendations on the implementation possibilities of EBT had suggested adoption of financial inclusion, using Business Correspondents and biometric based smart-card technology. The Committee has also suggested a framework for monitoring the progress in implementation.

Social welfare schemes introduced by a number of State Governments involved payment to the beneficiaries. These payments were made either through Government offices or through banks or other means like money orders. The Reserve Bank of India has also taken certain initiatives to enlarge the reach of banking facilities to sectors neglected so far through its financial inclusion initiatives in the form of permitting banks to engage Business Correspondents (BC).

Coupled with this, the need to channelise the financial benefits extended by Governments, both central and the states, to the weaker and needy sections of the society, to the ultimate beneficiaries using the banking system was also identified. In this background, a Committee was appointed for analysing the relative issues and suggesting an appropriate workable framework for Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) system that can be considered for adoption by all State Governments, the RBI said in a release here.

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