What is tokenisation, and how can it ensure safe transactions?, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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When buying a product online, we are often forced to store our credit or debit card details on the e-commerce platform. To ensure safety of this, the Reserve Bank of India issued guidelines last month, allowing card-on-file tokenisation.

Recently, Visa, a digital payments platform, launched its card-on-file tokenisation service in India.

Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming advancement in India’s digital payments system:

What is tokenisation?

As per guidelines, tokenisation is when credit or debit card details can be replaced with an alternate code, called “token”, which can be generated by the holder to make payments without entering their account details.

This devaluation of card details reduces risk and vulnerability of sensitive data, thereby reducing the chances of fraud arising from sharing card details.

Furthermore, if the customer wants to convert its token back to their actual card details, they can do so. This process is known as de-tokenisation.

What is a token, and how can it be used?

The 16-character “token” generated is free-of-cost, and can be used to perform contactless card transactions at point-of-sale (PoS) terminals, QR code payments, and now for card-on-file (CoF) transactions.

A customer can make a CoF transaction, after authorising a token to their merchant. The merchant can store the token, and use that to bill the customer’s products. Merchants here can be refered to e-commerce companies, airlines and supermarket chains.

The RBI has directed merchants not to store customers’ card details in their systems from January 1, 2022.

How do you generate a token?

The cardholder can generate a token by first requesting for a token on the app provided by the token requestor – the entity that accepts request from the customer for tokenisation of a card. Then, the company will pass the request on to the card network to issue a token. The card network, after seeking consent of the card issuer, will issue a token, which will have a combination of the card, the token requestor, and the device.

This process can be done through mobile phones or tablets for all use cases and channels like contactless card transactions, payments through QR codes and apps.

Tokens are generated by payment companies, which act like Token Service Providers (TSPs). They will provide tokens to mobile payment or e-commerce platforms so that the token can be used during transactions.

If a customer enters their card details in a virtual wallet like Google Pay, these platforms ask one of these TSPs for a token. Only after the TSPs get the go-ahead from the customer’s bank, a code is generated and sent to the user’s device. Once the token has been generated, it remains linked to the device and cannot be replaced.
Consequently, each time a customer uses their device to make a payment, the payments platform can authorise the transaction by simply sharing the token.

How can you register for tokenisation, and is it mandatory?

The ability to tokenise and de-tokenise card data will be with the same TSP, and if a customer wishes to register their card for tokenisation, they will have to first give their consent through Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA), RBI says. Tokenisation is not mandatory, and the customer will be given a choice of selecting the use case and setting-up of limits. The stakeholders involved in a tokenised card transaction are the merchant, the merchant’s acquirer, card network, token requestor, issuer and customer.



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Crypto bourses block accounts as red flags rise, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Indian cryptocurrency exchanges have started reporting and blocking trading accounts, which undertake suspicious trades after government agencies raised red flags over cryptocurrencies being used for money laundering.

The self-regulation comes at a time when India is yet to come out with any regulations around cryptocurrencies or the way to tax them. Industry trackers say investigators including cybercrime officials, the Enforcement Directorate and the income tax department, had raised red flags in the past few months.

Also, top crypto exchanges are getting requests from foreign investigators regarding certain suspicious accounts.
For instance, WazirX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, recently declared the numbers in what it calls a “transparency report”.

Between April and September this year, the exchange got 377 requests from legal enforcement agencies, out of which 38 requests were from foreign law enforcement agencies. The crypto exchange locked about 1,500 accounts.

In all, the exchange locked 14,469 accounts, although most of them were after customers asked them to stop services or there were some other payment issues.

“Initiatives such as the transparency report add credibility to the ecosystem and make the crypto world look more appealing to outsiders,” Nischal Shetty, CEO and founder, WazirX. “We aim to look at the bigger goals like positive regulations and consider ourselves paving the way to it through innovative approaches.” Many regulators in India had raised red flags around certain cryptocurrency transactions.

Exchanges have said they have developed a strong internal anti-money laundering policy as well.

“In India, we are bringing our four years of robust policy with our technologies to make sure we build products and services which help in crypto adoption but at the same time minimise the risk of money laundering,” said Kumar Gaurav, founder & CEO, Cashaa.

The exchanges waking up to money laundering and other regulators also come at a time when India is planning to come out with a cryptocurrency regulation.

There has always been regulatory scepticism around cryptocurrency and whether it can be used for illegal activities from buying drugs to money laundering.

The exchanges have always claimed that if the cryptocurrency is based on a blockchain technology, all the records are permanent and, in fact, it would be easier to discover the exact nature of the transactions.

“The report and the think tank is part of our efforts to bring more clarity and build transparency for our users and policy makers in India around everything crypto,” said Aritra Sarkhel, director of public policy at WazirX. Most of the large exchanges have seen between 100% and 400% jump in their volumes and value of trade that happen on their platforms amidst the global rally and some hope on the domestic regulatory front.



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Cryptocurrency crash ‘plausible’, rules needed, Bank of England’s Cunliffe says, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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By Huw Jones

LONDON -A collapse in cryptocurrencies is a “plausible scenario” and rules are needed to regulate the fast-growing sector as a “matter of urgency”, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said on Wednesday.

Risks to financial stability from the application of crypto technologies are currently limited, but there are a number of “very good reasons” to think that this might not be the case for very much longer, Cunliffe said.

“Regulators internationally and in many jurisdictions have begun the work. It needs to be pursued as a matter of urgency,” Cunliffe said in a speech to the SIBOS conference.

Largely unregulated cryptoassets have grown by 200% so far this year, from just under $800 billion to $2.3 trillion, with 95% of them, including bitcoin, unbacked by any asset or fiat currency, Cunliffe said.

“But as the financial crisis showed us, you don’t have to account for a large proportion of the financial sector to trigger financial stability problems – sub-prime was valued at around $1.2 trillion in 2008,” Cunliffe said, referring to a corner of the U.S. mortgage market whose collapse led to a global banking crisis.

“Such a collapse is certainly a plausible scenario, given the lack of intrinsic value and consequent price volatility, the probability of contagion between cryptoassets, the cyber and operational vulnerabilities, and of course, the power of herd behaviour,” Cunliffe said.

Connections between cryptocurrencies and the traditional financial system are also growing as big investors, hedge funds and banks become more involved, Cunliffe said.

Unregulated, decentralised finance or DeFi, which delivers financial services like credit on the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies, presents “pronounced” challenges given the absence of investor protection and the BoE has begun work on how such risks can be managed, he added.

Last week, global regulators proposed that the safeguards they apply to systemic clearing houses and payment systems should also be applied to stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically backed by an asset or fiat currency, but they only make up 5% of cryptoassets.

Cunliffe, who helped to lead the work on the safeguards, said it took two years to draft this measure, during which stablecoins have grown 16-fold.

“Indeed, bringing the crypto world effectively within the regulatory perimeter will help ensure that the potentially very large benefits of the application of this technology to finance can flourish in a sustainable way,” he added.

(Reporting by Huw JonesEditing by David Goodman, Gareth Jones and Nick Macfie)



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Five banks may bid for Citi’s India consumer businesses, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Five top lenders, including HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, are expected to submit binding bids for the Citi India consumer businesses before the October 26 deadline, two officials aware of the development told ET.

Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank and DBS India are also in contention for the businesses Citi is exiting in India. Although the US lender is seeking a valuation in excess of $2 billion, the bids could be more circumspect after Citi lost significant market share in its retail and credit card books, one of the executives cited above said.

HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, two of India’s top three most valued private sector lenders, are considered front-runners to win the business that generates about $1 billion in revenue.
“While Citi’s retail franchise remains excellent, the book has shrunk. It has lost significant market share and due to the exit plans, it has not been able to focus on enhancing the existing book and adding quality customers,” said an official involved in the bidding process.

“Still, Citi has received multiple bids from domestic banks. Plus, it is also expected to receive bids from global suitors that may be looking to pick up consumer assets in several markets the bank has exited,” the official said.

Citi India said it has received strong interest from bidders.

“We are pursuing consumer franchise sales with a focus on optimising results for our people, our clients and our shareholders,” a spokesperson for Citi India said in a mailed response to ET’s queries. “Conversations with potential buyers continue in these markets, including India, with strong interest from a broad range of bidders.”

HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, DBS India, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank did not respond to ET’s mailed query.

Citibank, under its first woman CEO Jane Fraser, decided to exit retail businesses in 13 markets to conserve capital and focus on higher yielding revenue streams. The Citi management has indicated that the exit process is currently on and that while it will look to complete the exits in a timely manner, the retreats wouldn’t be anything akin to so-called fire sales.

Citi’s consumer portfolio contributes about a third to the India business on profitability while the total India business contributes 1.5% in profits to the lender’s global book.

The Indian retail basket includes credit cards, deposit accounts, wealth management and a mortgage portfolio. Overall, Citibank’s India unit had a market share of advances and deposits of 0.6% and 1.1%, respectively. In India, Citibank has more than 2.5 million retail customers, 1.2 million bank accounts and nearly 2.6 million credit cards. It lost more than 100,000 customers since announcing its exit.

The Right Mix
Although Citi is India’s sixth-largest card issuer, it has lost market share on card spends – from 20% a decade ago to 4% now. However, it has consistently logged 15-25% higher expenditure per card against the industry average, an analysis by Macquarie showed. A mix of premium cards and corporate salary account cards in the portfolio makes the Citi business attractive for bidders. “We have done due diligence on the book; it’s a good franchise for banks that don’t have an existing credit card or wealth book and it only makes sense at a good valuation. We will have to see how aggressively we bid,” said a top official at a bank that is likely to submit its bid.



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Beyond cctv: Banking in the digital world

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Video analytics can help in reducing customers’ dependence on staff in banks. In fact, it is easily possible to create completely unstaffed branches by using the technology. (Representative image)

By Abhijit Shanbhag

We live in a digital world where AI and automation have entered every walk of professional life. You can pick any modern industry, and it won’t take long to identify how cutting-edge technologies such as AI, analytics, IoT and machine learning are playing an indispensable role in the growth of business organisations. One of the path-breaking AI innovations in recent times has been the evolution of video analytics, and this technology is extremely crucial for banking industry.

Indian banks can benefit by integrating a powerful AI platform which is supported by dashboards that are not cost exorbitant but capable of resolving various challenges for them. Today, there are advanced solutions available that can provide detailed data-driven insights to help the banks enhance their operations as well as the customer experience. This is enabled by the real time conversion of the visual feeds from CCTVs into analytics. There are multiple benefits that such video AI solutions offer.

Crowd management and safety inside banks
An advanced AI video analytics system can identify the density of people on the premises. In Covid-19 times, maintaining social distancing compliance and tracking of crowd behaviour through the existing CCTV systems is extremely beneficial. Further, the continuous monitoring and ability to smartly detect weapons, suspicious behaviour or unattended objects allows the system to raise an alert and provide crucial early response opportunity.

Monitoring customer experience

Video analytics can help in overcoming the challenge of enhancing customer experience. The intuitive video AI solutions can analyse various customer activities inside the premises. The system can create customer journey map in the branch to provide insights on things such as the average time spent by a customer on a specific counter, the high-density areas or the amount it takes on an average to withdraw cash from the ATM. By factoring in such things, the banks can improve overall performance and customer satisfaction levels.

Banks often carry out on-site promotional activities and AI video analytics will help them understand the impact of such activities on customer engagement. At the same time, activities such as vandalism, defacing of the premises, littering or attempts to manipulate the ATM machine, etc., can be detected and flagged in real-time.

Branch automation through AI video analytics
The automated or self-service branches are not exactly a novel idea, but their need has become much more pronounced today. Video analytics can help in reducing customers’ dependence on staff in banks. In fact, it is easily possible to create completely unstaffed branches by using the technology.

The advanced video analytics solutions offer the option of following set parameters, and sending automatic alerts. In unstaffed branches, the video AI solutions can ensure that the safety measures are followed and customer satisfaction KPIs are met. Facial recognition tools can be used at the ATM kiosks to facilitate card less transactions.

Almost all the bank branches nowadays use CCTVs for surveillance. However, these are used in a very passive manner. Deploying video analytics technology can help banks convert their existing CCTV systems into a smart tool to enhance their operational efficiency and customer delight. The technology is now available and it is only a matter of time before the banking sector adopts it across India.

The writer is president and CEO, Graymatics

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Government announces conversion of two G-Secs into six FRBs

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The government on Wednesday announced the conversion or switch of two Government Securities (G-Secs), both maturing in 2022 and aggregating ₹36,000 crore (face value) into six floating rate bonds (FRBs) maturing between 2028 and 2034.

Thus, the government does not have to redeem the aforementioned G-Secs on their maturity dates — April 13, 2022 (for the security carrying 5.09 per cent coupon rate) and August 02, 2022 (for the security carrying 8.08 per cent coupon rate). Redemption pressure on the government is alleviated to the extent of the face value of the securities being converted or switched.

Also see: A journey towards monetary normalisation

Marzban Irani, CIO – Fixed Income, LIC Mutual Fund, said, “There are two reasons for going in for the conversion or switch of the two G-Secs into FRBs. Firstly, market participants have shown an appetite for this instrument as they expect interest rates to reverse (go up). Secondly, this move postpones the maturity of the G-Secs, thereby lessening the redemption burden on the government.”

Auction for conversion

RBI, in a statement, said the conversion or switch will take place through a multiple-price based auction, which has been scheduled on October 18.

In this auction, successful bids will be accepted at their respective quoted prices for the source and destination securities.

RBI started conducting auctions for the conversion of G-Secs on the third Monday of every month from April 22, 2019.

Bidding in the auction implies that the market participants agree to sell the source security/ies to the government, and simultaneously agree to buy the destination security from the GoI at their respective quoted prices.

Online portal

Market participants are required to place their bids through the e-Kuber portal, giving the amount of the source security and the price of the source and destination security expressed up to two decimal places.

Also see: RBI announcements roil the markets

The price of the source security quoted must be equal to the FBIL (Financial Benchmarks India) closing price of the source security as on the previous working day.

Bond price

Meanwhile, price of the 10-year benchmark G-Sec carrying 6.10 per cent coupon rate moved up about 8 paise to close at ₹98.445 (against the previous close of ₹98.36). Yield of this security thawed about a basis point to 6.3145 per cent against 6.3263 per cent.

Bond price and yield are inversely correlated and move in opposite directions.

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Mobikwik sees ‘BNPL’ as its fastest growing business segment

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IPO-bound One Mobikwik Systems (Mobikwik) sees it’s ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ product — which enjoys higher margins — as a major growth driver and it’s fastest growing business segment in the days to come, said Co-founder Upasana Taku.

This digital financial services firm is also aiming to launch its ₹1,900 crore initial public offering (IPO) by this month end, Taku told BusinessLine in an interview.

Growing market

The ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) product allows consumers to pay later in instalments with no additional costs for their purchases.

Also see: Meet the 31 start-ups most likely to become unicorns soon

It is a growing market in India and, over the last eighteen months, has expanded from a level of a few million dollars annually to about $1.5–2 billion in total transaction value.

“We see BNPL as a major growth driver in the days to come. All metrics associated with BNPL are growing rapidly. In fact, in Q1 of this fiscal, the gross merchandise value (GMV) was much more than what we clocked as GMV for BNPL in all of last year. Whether it be number of transactions, average ticket size (grown to ₹ 3,200) or the number of repeat users — all of them are growing,” she added.

Under-served segment

Mobikwik is one of the leading players of BNPL with an approved user base of 23 million.

“Our near term aspiration is to first take the number of our active BNPL users to the same level as credit card in force of the largest credit card issuer in the country,” Taku added.

Increased smartphone penetration, cheapest data plans and a boom in online shopping has propelled the demand for pay later products in the country. Given the under-penetration of financial markets, digital financial service providers see ample scope for growth in the country.

Well-differentiated offerings

Meanwhile, Mobikwik is looking to tap the IPO market at a time when several other digital businesses, including its competitor Paytm, are looking to come out with their own public offerings this quarter (Oct–Dec 2021).

Asked if she felt this crowding of internet businesses at the IPO market could affect Mobikwik’s prospects, she replied in the negative.

Also see: Mobikwik gets SEBI’s nod to float IPO

“There are several digital and tech companies coming to market. It is a good thing for India for the scale of GDP that it has. So far, there have been only three to four tech IPOs. India is going to have a booming high-growth internet economy for the next decade. We at Mobikwik are well positioned to ride on trend. Our business model is well-differentiated when compared to others. Hopefully, investors will understand this,” Taku said.

“Two pillars of our growth are consumer payments and BNPL. This is a unique and differentiated value proposition that we are going out with,” she said.

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PhonePe and NBBL partner to launch ClickPay

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Digital payment platform PhonePe has, in association with NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd (NBBL), launched ClickPay for its customers.

ClickPay is a unique payment link that enables customers to make recurring online bill payments (electricity, water, gas, loan, etc) and removes the need to remember tedious account details associated with each biller or service. This link sent by the biller will lead the customer directly to the payment page, fetching the bill amount instantly.

Streamline payment process

ClickPay benefits PhonePe customers by removing the hassle of remembering the unique identifiers and details associated with making bill payments — they can simply pay by clicking on the ClickPay link sent by their biller, making it a two-step process. This launch will help increase the share of digital transactions in the ecosystem by reducing errors induced by manual inputs required for bill payments.

Ankit Gaur, Director, Online Merchants at PhonePe, said, “This partnership will bring a large number of potential customers from the offline realm to pay their bills online. We believe that this will further the adoption of digital payments by making the discovery of billers and bill payments convenient for consumers.”

Also see: Still a long way to become a Super App: PhonePe co-founder

Rahul Tandon, Head Product & Market Development, NPCI Bharat BillPay, said, “ClickPay is a step to empower the customer, wherein with ease, payment can be effected sans the tedium of manual inputs and errors. ClickPay facility with PhonePe will extend robust facilitation to a huge customer base. ClickPay will assure faster payments and help with furthering digital transactions in the payments service space.”

PhonePe is a digital payments platform with over 300 million registered users. Using PhonePe, users can send and receive money, recharge mobile, DTH, data cards, pay at stores, make utility payments, buy gold and make investments. PhonePe forayed into financial services in 2017 with the launch of Gold, providing users with an option to buy 24-karat gold securely on its platform. PhonePe has since launched several mutual funds and insurance products like tax-saving funds, liquid funds, international travel insurance, life insurance, and insurance for the Covid-19 pandemic among others. PhonePe is also accepted at 20+ million merchant outlets across India.

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Reserve Bank of India – Press Releases

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The following State Governments have offered to sell securities by way of auction, for an aggregate amount of ₹5,000 Cr. (Face Value).

Sr. No. State Amount to be raised (₹ Cr) Additional Borrowing (Greenshoe) Option (₹ Cr) Tenure (Yrs.) Type of Auction
1 Gujarat 1500 5 Yield
2 Haryana 1500 10 Yield
3 Karnataka 1000 10 Yield
1000 13 Yield
  TOTAL 5000      

The auction will be conducted on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on October 18, 2021 (Monday). The Government Stock up to 10% of the notified amount of the sale of each stock will be allotted to eligible individuals and institutions subject to a maximum limit of 1% of its notified amount for a single bid per stock as per the Scheme for Non-competitive Bidding Facility.

Both competitive and non-competitive bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on October 18, 2021 (Monday). The non-competitive bids should be submitted between 10.30 A.M. to 11.00 A.M. and the competitive bids should be submitted between 10.30 A.M. to 11.30 A.M.

In case of technical difficulties, Core Banking Operations Team (email; Phone no: 022-27595666, 022-27595415, 022-27523516) may be contacted. For other auction related difficulties, IDMD auction team can be contacted (email; Phone no: 022-22702431, 022-22705125).

Only in the event of system failure, physical bids would be accepted. Such physical bids should be submitted to the Public Debt Office (email; Phone no: 022-22632527, 022-22701299) in the prescribed form obtainable from RBI website (https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewForms.aspx) before the auction timing ends.

The yield percent per annum expected by the bidder should be expressed up to two decimal points. An investor can submit more than one competitive bid at same/different rates of yield or prices in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system. However, the aggregate amount of bids submitted by a bidder should not exceed the notified amount for each State.

The Reserve Bank of India will determine the maximum yield /minimum price at which bids will be accepted. Securities will be issued for a minimum nominal amount of ₹10,000.00 and multiples of ₹10,000.00 thereafter.

The results of the auction will be announced on October 18, 2021 (Monday) and payment by successful bidders will be made during banking hours on October 20, 2021 (Wednesday) at Mumbai and at respective Regional Offices of RBI.

The State Government Stocks will bear interest at the rates determined by RBI at the auctions. For the new securities, interest will be paid half yearly on April 20 and October 20 of each year till maturity. The Stocks will be governed by the provisions of the Government Securities Act, 2006 and Government Securities Regulations, 2007.

The investment in State Government Stocks will be reckoned as an eligible investment in Government Securities by banks for the purpose of Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) under Section 24 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The stocks will qualify for the ready forward facility.

Ajit Prasad
Director   

Press Release: 2021-2022/1041

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Reserve Bank of India – Press Releases

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed, by an order dated October 13, 2021, a monetary penalty of ₹3.00 lakh (Rupees Three lakh only) on The Sahyadri Sahakari Bank Limited, Mumbai (the bank) for contravention of the provisions of Section 26A read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (the Act), the Scheme framed thereunder and for contravention of /non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI contained in the Master Circular on Frauds – Classification and Reporting. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 47 A (1) (c) read with Section 46 (4) (i) and Section 56 of the Act, taking into account the failure of the bank to adhere to the aforesaid directions issued by RBI.

The action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

Background

The inspection report of the bank based on its financial position as on March 31, 2019, revealed, inter alia, that the bank had (i) not transferred amount unclaimed in accounts for more than ten years to Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEA Fund) and (ii) had reported frauds to RBI with an inordinate delay. Based on the same, a Notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed for non-compliance with and contravention of the provisions of the Act and the aforesaid directions, as stated therein.

After considering the bank’s reply to the Notice and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, RBI came to the conclusion that the aforesaid charges of non-compliance with and contravention of the provisions of the Act and RBI directions were substantiated and warranted imposition of monetary penalty.

(Yogesh Dayal)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2021-2022/1040

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