Should RBI compensate victims of digital fraud—or leave such policy matters to the government?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. It is not often that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor’s statement on monetary policy includes an announcement that directly touches the lives of Indians at large. Repo rate changes and liquidity measures—the stuff that such statements are usually made of—are one stage removed, as their impact plays out through the banking system.
This time, however, citizens were direct beneficiaries of a proposal aimed at better customer protection. On Friday, Governor Sanjay Malhotra said that RBI would introduce a framework to compensate bank customers up to ₹25,000 each for losses incurred in fraudulent transactions of small value. These constitute roughly 65% of online frauds in India.
Notably, victims would not be asked any questions in such cases, so the scheme is expected to cover even those who disclose an OTP—the one-time password used by banks to confirm a customer’s identity. While victims and their banks will each be required to bear 15% of the transaction value, RBI will pay the rest from its Depositor Education and Awareness Fund. Draft guidelines are to be issued soon.
Before the central bank does that, however, it should pause and reconsider the proposal. Is it rushing into an area beyond its remit with an idea best left to the government? Given the gravity of the problem, nobody can quarrel with RBI’s intent. In the last six years alone, nearly ₹53,000 crore has been lost to cyber-crime.
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