A committee set up by the Reserve Bank has suggested that customers should be allowed to make payments at merchant outlets and transfer funds by using mobile numbers. It has also recommended that banks should simplify system for mobile banking so that the facility could be availed on any type of handsets with suitable level of security. It suggested that the limit of unsecured transaction may be raised from the existing Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 depending upon bank’s security policy and internal risk management control. “Customer may be able to make merchant payment using just his mobile number and M-PIN/OTP on the merchant interface… The merchant based interfaces can accept OTP (One-Time Password) for authentication,” the panel said. RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has set up the committee to expand the reach of mobile banking to examine possibility of using encrypted SMS based fund transfer. The RBI has given approval for mobile banking services to 80 banks, of which 64 have commenced operations. The customer base of banks who have subscribed to mobile banking services stands at nearly 30 million as of October 2013. Mobile banking has been reflecting a growing trend with the volume and value increasing by 108.5% (53.3 million in 2012-13 versus 25.56 million in 2011-12) and 228.9% (Rs 59.9 billion in 2012-13 against Rs 18.21 billion in 2011-12), according to RBI. The committee suggesed that the process of M-PIN generation may also be simplified without necessitating a visit to the bank branch. Another important recommendation of the panel is that for facilitating funds transfer using mobile banking, the remitting customer may be facilitated to effect person-to-person funds transfer using just the mobile number and bank or just the Aadhaar number of beneficiary
