correspondents. the mobile banking guidelines were relaxed in december, 2009 to – 13. ( a ) enhance the daily cap on both funds transfers and transactions involving purchase of goods and services to rs. 50, 000 ; ( b ) requirement of end - to - end encryption relaxed for transactions up to rs. 1000 / for small value transactions ; ( c ) facilitate funds transfer from a bank account using a mobile phone with cash payout at atms / bcs up to rs 5000. non - bank entities have been permitted, in august 2009, to issue semi closed prepaid m - wallets up to the value of rs 5000 / - with full kyc compliance based on the representation received from cellular operators association of india ( coai ). the objective of keeping the limits low was to study the trend and progressively liberalize based on the experience. as on date a total of 6 non - bank entities have been authorized to issue prepaid mobile wallets. this includes one mobile service provider. another application is under process. 14. given that india is still far from being a cash less society, the cash - in / cash - out arrangements in these models play an important part for scaling up. this can happen only if banks and mobile operators / card issuers work together as partners. it is gratifying to note that the high level of inter - ministerial group anchored by the department of information technology, government of india that went into the issue, after extensive discussions, have reached more or less the same conclusion. goi has consequently appointed various committees to address issues pertaining to provision of prioritized services for mobile banking transactions and pricing of such services. 15. the recent relaxations contemplated in enabling mobile operators as bcs of banks should give a further fillip to these efforts. 16. it has to be appreciated that in india, unlike in kenya and philippines, there are a number of msps and a huge base of mobile subscribers. to have an efficient mobile based payment and remittance system would require inter - msp payment services. this inter - operability is an important criterion for any payment product to be successful and acceptable. facilitating this would require the setting up of a clearing and settlement arrangement for such non - bank operators. such clearing and settlement arrangements could have systemic implications. this is where the facility being inaugurated today by the npci is filling an important pre requisite for the product to scale up. 17. rbi has permitted 40 banks to do mobile banking and the customer

shyamala gopinath : inauguration of inter - bank mobile payment service remarks by ms shyamala gopinath, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the inauguration of inter - bank mobile payment service ( imps ) of the national payment corporation of india ( npci ), mumbai, 22 november 2010. * * * 1. mr hota, mr balachandran, my colleague mr padmanabhan, other executives of npci, fellow bankers, other dignitaries and my media friends present here. i am honoured to be here and i thank the npci for inviting me to inaugurate the interbank mobile payment services ( imps ), which has the potential to change the retail payment landscape in india provided all the stakeholders get it right. 2. the success of mobile penetration in india is now widely recognized. this huge success has encouraged it being increasingly leveraged to address other frontier issues of inclusive growth process. exchange of money, one of the most fundamental economic functions in any economy, is one of such frontline issues. i can do no better than refer to the observations from a recent book 1 coauthored by mr. sam pitroda, one of the key architects of telecom revolution in india : m - commerce is poised for a revolution, commencing in china and india. it may initially focus on mobile banking and later, with integration of applications for consumer convenience, extend to other services. 3. intuitively, the mobile phone, being more ubiquitous in nature offers a greater opportunity for effective delivery of financial services and furthering the cause of financial inclusion in a significant way. with the evolution through information & communication infrastructure, knowledge based initiatives, right to information and education, delivery of public services and employment and entrepreneurship mobile money has the potential to facilitate inclusive growth. 4. reserve bank has acknowledged the importance of mobile banking channel as a critical element to achieving inclusive growth in india and has been taking several important steps, the recent being enabling the mobile companies to partner with banks as business correspondents. the twin challenge in our country would be to succeed in reducing the use of cash while encouraging the spread and use of mobile wallet to reap the full benefits of this ubiquitous product. 5. the three stakeholders viz. the telecom operators, banks and merchants have realized the value proposition and the only sustainable business model is where these stakeholders work together to deliver true value to customers and effectively share the costs saved and new revenues generated. hence it is imperative that all the