Synopsis
Covid-19 has made people reluctant to handle cash for fear of infection. The pandemic has also underscored the need to extend timely financial support to people who don’t have bank accounts.
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India’s central bank is opening its balance sheet to the public. Retail investors will have online access to the government bond market via investment accounts with the Reserve Bank.
As the government’s investment bank, the RBI manages institutional buying and selling in gilt securities. Skepticism is high about “Retail Direct” because previous attempts at bringing public debt to the masses haven’t gone anywhere. But if the initiative takes off, it could be a precursor to an interest-paying digital currency competing with bank deposits.
Covid-19 has made people reluctant to handle cash for fear of infection. The pandemic has also underscored the need to extend timely financial support to people who dont have bank accounts.
The idea of a central bank digital currency, which will reside on smartphones but as a direct claim on the state (rather than a bank) is gaining ground everywhere
RBI received 1,500 complaints against digital loan apps, over 100,000 digital transactions complaints Credit: PTI
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has received 1,509 complaints related to digital lending mobile applications, of which around 1,019 were against unregulated and unregistered digital loan apps, the Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur told Parliament. In terms of digital transactions, the central bank received 137,823 complaints in 2019-20, up by 113% from 64,607 complaints the previous year.
Several members of Parliament had raised the issue of predatory digital loan apps in the Lok Sabha, and sought responses from the government on what corrective steps it had taken or proposed to take up in order to protect the public. In his reply, Thakur said while the RBI had issued a circular in June last year to non-bank lenders and banks to step up their transparency and disclosure efforts on digital loan apps and platforms, it had also issued a warning to custome
India’s central bank is opening its balance sheet to the public. Retail investors will have online access to the government bond market via investment accounts with the Reserve Bank. As the government’s investment bank, the RBI manages institutional buying and selling in gilt securities. Skepticism is high about “Retail Direct” because previous attempts at bringing public debt to the masses haven’t gone anywhere. But if the initiative takes off, it could be a precursor to an interest-paying digital currency competing with bank deposits. The idea of a central bank digital currency, which will reside on smartphones but as a direct claim on the state (rather than a bank) is gaining ground everywhere. Covid-19 has made people reluctant to handle cash for fear of infection. The pandemic has also underscored the need to extend timely financial support to people who don’t have bank accounts.