The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on  released the “Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision-2018”. The vision reiterates the aims of building a “less-cash” society by encouraging greater use of electronic payments by all sections.

The objective is to ensure that a robust payments infrastructure is established in the country to increase accessibility, availability, interoperability and security.

Contours of Vision-2018

The broad contours of Vision-2018 revolve around 5Cs – Coverage, Convenience, Confidence, Convergence and Cost.

Coverage: Enabling wider access to a variety of electronic payment services

Convenience: Enhancing user experience through ease of use and of products and processes

Confidence: Promoting integrity of systems, security of operations and customer protection

Convergence: Ensuring interoperability across service providers

Cost: Making services cost effective for users as well as service providers

Four strategic initiatives to achieve 5Cs

To achieve these, Vision-2018 will focus on four strategic initiatives such as responsive regulation, robust infrastructure, effective supervision and customer centricity.

Responsive Regulation: Involve all stakeholders to promote twin objectives of enhanced coverage with interoperability of the payments system and convenience with security for the end-users in sync with emerging developments and innovations.

Robust Infrastructure: Aim is to increase the accessibility, availability, interoperability and security of the payment systems.