RBI asks banks to organize special camps to educate public about digital payments

The Reserve Bank of India has asked bank-operated Financial Literacy Centers, FLCs and rural branches to organize special camps starting from April 1 to educate public about digital payments through Unified Payments Interface, UPI and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data-based,USSD, “*99#” service code platforms. The camps will be conducted for one year. 

The RBI said that the policy on conducting such camps has been revised given the recent developments after demonetarization and focus on going digital.The Unified Payments Interface or the UPI through which



the RBI wishes to encourage the payment during the camps, is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application. While the *99# USSD is a telecom service for fund transfer that works without internet. 

Besides these special camps, RBI said FLCs will continue to conduct the tailored camps for five target groups like farmers, small entrepreneurs, school children, senior citizens and Self Help Groups. Furthermore, banks are henceforth required to conduct only one camp per month on the third Friday of each month after branch hours.