Watal Committee recommendations for a cashless India

A 11-member committee set up under former finance secretary Ratan Watal on August 23 to suggest ways of promoting digital transactions in the country has submitted its report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The following are the list of suggested recommendations:

• The Payments Regulatory Board (PRB) to be formed as an independent payments regulator within the framework of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• 24X7 operation of  real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) and national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) banking services
• Similarity in treatment for banks and non-banking entities in the payments space.
• Changes to be made in the existing Payment and Settlements Act to include consumer protection, data protection and privacy clauses etc.
• The committee sought to make Aadhaar number as central to all transactions. Aadhaar-based e-KYC to substitute all prevailing central KYC processes.
• Government payments to be made online. The committee has suggested to waive customs and excise duty on parts used in micro-ATMs and point of sale (PoS) machines.
• RBI to provide interoperability between banks and payment service providers.
• Increase funds to promote digital payments