in facilitating innovation. 12. having set that context, i now want to address three specific sub - topics in the area of payment and settlement systems : i. rbi ’ s role in modernizing payment systems ii. rbi ’ s approach to responsible regulation iii. rbi ’ s role as facilitator of innovation rbis role in modernising payment systems 13. so, let me turn to the first sub - topic – the role played by the reserve bank in the modernization of the payment and settlement infrastructure of the country. paper based clearing 14. the reserve bank kickstarted the modernisation of the paper based system in the mid - 80s with the introduction of micr technology in the four metros. today micr technology is used at 66 centres across the country. besides, more than 1100 smaller centres have been brought under a uniform computerised clearing package – the “ express cheque clearing system ” – to enable the required level of interoperability across all the clearing houses. leveraging on the core - banking infrastructure of banks, we introduced “ speed clearing ” in 2008 to facilitate collection of outstation cheques on a local basis. 15. another major initiative has been the cheque truncation system ( cts ) which was operationalised in the national capital region of delhi in 2008. cts, as many of you know, is an image based cheque clearing system obviating the need for physical movement of cheques. a further technological improvement of the regular cts environment is the grid bis central bankers ’ speeches based cts. the grid based cts encompasses multiple clearing locations spread across several states facilitating the processing and clearing of cheques of all the banks under that particular grid. the national payments corporation of india ( npci ), the umbrella retail payments organization set up by banks, has since operationalized a grid based cts in chennai in 2011. electronic payment systems 16. even as it was modernizing paper based transactions, the reserve bank was also simultaneously working on retail electronic payment systems such as electronic clearing service ( ecs ) for bulk payment transactions ( credit as well as debit ) and an electronic funds transfer ( eft ) system. the localised ecs has today metamorphosed into an ecs suite of products : ( i ) a localised ecs catering to the bank branches of a local clearing house ; ( ii ) a regional ecs covering all the bank branches of a state or several states as in the north - east ; and

studies, or cemla. i would be remiss if, before ending, i did not note the strong leadership that governor agustin carstens continues to provide at the bank of mexico. his leadership in economic policy, in several key roles, has been instrumental in solidifying the progress that mexico has made over the past two decades. agustin has also built an impressive record in the international policy community more broadly. he is currently the chair of the bis consultative council for the americas, has recently been appointed chair of the bis economic bis central bankers ’ speeches consultative committee and the global economy meeting, and played a key role in mexico ’ s successful presidency of the g - 20 last year. to conclude, i would like to congratulate the bank of mexico on the 20th anniversary of its independence. i wish you a productive conference marking this auspicious occasion. and i wish the bank of mexico continued success in its work to stabilize and strengthen the mexican economy. bis central bankers ’ speeches