TRAI to Regulate Banking and Financial Services on Mobile Devices

TRAI calls for regulating tariffs for banking and other financial services on mobile phones to ensure that this facility is affordable to the masses. It is of the opinion that ‘the proposed framework for delivery of basic financial services is intended to promote financial inclusion, including transfer of funds under various government schemes and programmes targeted to poor people’.

Along with the consultation process, TRAI will also finalise its recommendations on other policy issues that are vital for framing guidelines for mobile banking services.

Recently Airtel had formed a 49:51 joint venture with State Bank of India to provide mobile-banking and other financial services. Similarly, Vodafone entered into a JV with ICICI Bank. Other mobile service providers are also slated to announce similar tie-ups with banks over the next couple of months.

India has over 700 million mobile connections with a penetration of more than 60%. In comparison, a significant majority of the country’s population does not have access to banking services. Latest estimates by the Central Bank say that only 50,000 of the 600,000 villages in the country have access to finance. [via]