RBI appoints Nandan Nilekani as chairman of committee to assess digital payments

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, as the chairman of the committee to assess digitisation of payments in India. 

The high-level committee under Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani will suggest measures to strengthen the safety and security of digital payments in the country.

Nilekani was earlier, during the UPA regime, UIDAI chairman which oversaw the implementation of the Aadhar programme.

The five-member panel on deepening of digital payments has been constituted with a view to encourage digitisation of payments and enhance financial inclusion through digitisation, the RBI said in a statement.

"The committee shall submit its report within a period of 90 days from the date of its first meeting," it added.

The panel has been tasked with reviewing the existing status of digitisation of payments in the country, identifying the current gaps in the ecosystem and suggesting ways to bridge them and assessing the current levels of digital payments in financial inclusion.

It will also "suggest measures to strengthen the safety and security of digital payments... (and) a road map for increasing customer confidence and trust while accessing financial services through digital modes".

It has also been asked to undertake cross country analyses with a view to identifying best practices that can be adopted in our country to accelerate digitisation of the economy and financial inclusion through greater use of digital payments.

Another term of reference of the panel, the RBI said is to suggest a medium-term strategy for deepening of digital payments.

The five members of the committee are - Nandan Nilekani, HR Khan (former Deputy Governor, RBI), Kishore Sansi (former Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Vijaya Bank),  Aruna Sharma (former Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology and Steel) and  Sanjay Jain (Chief Innovation Officer, Center for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE), IIM Ahmedabad).

(With inputs from PTI)