Thursday, July 2, 2015
Mobile Users To Get Number Portability Across The Country From Tomorrow
New Delhi: Mobile users will be able to retain their numbers
across the country with all operators gearing to launch the full Mobile Number
Portability (MNP) service on Friday to meet a deadline set by the government.
All operators, including
Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Reliance Communications, as also state-run MTNL and
BSNL, on Thursday announced they would be rolling out the full MNP from
tomorrow to enable their customers to retain their mobile numbers even if they
shift base to a new place.
The national MNP service, the earlier deadline for which was May
3 but got extended by two months as operators were not ready, will also
facilitate the users to choose the operator of their choice without changing
their numbers.
Among other private players, Uninor, Sistema Shyam Teleservices
and Videocon also said they will roll out the service to meet the July 3
deadline fixed by the government.
In a statement, Airtel said its customers can also enjoy special
offers like processing requests to port within Airtel’s network within 24 hours
and free incoming on roaming until the portability request is processed.
Vodafone said, “Customers looking for the convenience of
retaining their existing number at the new location can avail the benefits of
national MNP service.”
“Vodafone has benefited from the intra-circle MNP that was
rolled out in 2011 and we look forward to a similar response this time,”
Vodafone India Chief Commercial Officer Vivek Mathur said.
Idea Cellular said it has enabled its network to roll out the
DoT mandated national MNP services for mobile users across the country.
“Idea has been the MNP leader with over 14 million net gain of
customers so far, through intra circle MNP services.
The company is now ready to enable national MNP by allowing its
own users to retain their numbers even if they move out of a circle and also
take on new customers who wish to switch to Idea network from their current
service provider,” Idea said.
Reliance Communications also said it is ready to roll out MNP
nationally from July 3 onwards. It also plans to offer “attractive and
aggressive plans” to retain customers. The number of mobile users in the
country was 97.33 crore at the end of April.
PTI
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Digital India Week
Several initiatives have been taken for introduction of Information Technology to empower people. Some of the initiatives have resulted in development of products to extend various services in areas relating to health, education, labour and employment, commerce etc. The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi would launch the Digital India Week this evening urging people to gain knowledge and to empower themselves through the Digital India Programme of his Government.
Digital India has been envisioned as an ambitious umbrella programme to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It comprises of various initiatives under the single programme each targeted to prepare India for becoming a knowledge economy and for bringing good governance to citizens through synchronized and co-ordinated engagement of the entire Government.
This programme has been envisaged and coordinated by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) in collaboration with various Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments. The Prime Minister as the Chairman of Monitoring Committee on Digital India, activities under the Digital India initiative is being carefully monitored. All the existing and ongoing e-Governance initiatives have been revamped to align them with the principles of Digital India.
The vision of Digital India programme also aims at inclusive growth in areas of electronic services, products, manufacturing and job opportunities etc. The vision of Digital India is centred on three key areas -
(i) Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen
(ii) Governance & Services on Demand and
(iii) Digital Empowerment of Citizens
With the above vision, the Digital India programme aims to provide Broadband Highways, Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity, Public Internet Access Programme, E-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology, eKranti - Electronic Delivery of Services, Information for All, Electronics Manufacturing: Target Net Zero Imports, IT for Jobs and Early Harvest Programmes. Several projects/products have already launched or ready to be launched as indicated below:
· Digital Locker System aims to minimize the usage of physical documents and enable sharing of e-documents across agencies. The sharing of the e-documents will be done through registered repositories thereby ensuring the authenticity of the documents online.
· MyGov.in has been implemented as a platform for citizen engagement in governance, through a “Discuss”, “Do” and “Disseminate” approach. The mobile App for MyGov would bring these features to users on a mobile phone.
· Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Mobile app would be used by people and Government organizations for achieving the goals of Swachh Bharat Mission.
· eSign framework would allow citizens to digitally sign a document online using Aadhaar authentication.
· The Online Registration System (ORS) under the eHospital application has been introduced. This application provides important services such as online registration, payment of fees and appointment, online diagnostic reports, enquiring availability of blood online etc.
· National Scholarships Portal is a one stop solution for end to end scholarship process right from submission of student application, verification, sanction and disbursal to end beneficiary for all the scholarships provided by the Government of India.
· DeitY has undertaken an initiative namely Digitize India Platform (DIP) for large scale digitization of records in the country that would facilitate efficient delivery of services to the citizens.
· The Government of India has undertaken an initiative namely Bharat Net, a high speed digital highway to connect all 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats of country. This would be the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity project using optical fibre.
· BSNL has introduced Next Generation Network (NGN), to replace 30 year old exchanges, which is an IP based technology to manage all types of services like voice, data, multimedia/ video and other types of packet switched communication services.
· BSNL has undertaken large scale deployment of Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the country. The user can latch on the BSNL Wi-Fi network through their mobile devices.
· To deliver citizen services electronically and improve the way citizens and authorities transact with each other, it is imperative to have ubiquitous connectivity. The government also realises this need as reflected by including ‘broadband highways’ as one of the pillars of Digital India. While connectivity is one criterion, enabling and providing technologies to facilitate delivery of services to citizens forms the other.
Policy initiatives have also been undertaken by DeitY in the e- Governance domain like e-Kranti Framework, Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for Government of India, Framework for Adoption of Open Source Software in e-Governance Systems, Policy on Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for Government of India, E-mail Policy of Government of India, Policy on Use of IT Resources of Government of India, Policy on Collaborative Application Development by Opening the Source Code of Government Applications, Application Development & Re-Engineering Guidelines for Cloud Ready Applications
· BPO Policy has been approved to create BPO centres in different North Eastern states and also in smaller / mofussil towns of other states.
· Electronics Development Fund (EDF) Policy aims to promote Innovation, R&D, and Product Development and to create a resource pool of IP within the country to create a self-sustaining eco-system of Venture Funds.
· National Centre for Flexible Electronics (NCFlexE) is an initiative of Government of India to promote research and innovation in the emerging area of Flexible Electronics.
· Centre of Excellence on Internet on Things (IoT) is a joint initiative of Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), ERNET and NASSCOM.
The estimated impact of Digital India by 2019 would be cross cutting, ranging from broadband connectivity in all Panchayats, Wi-fi in schools and universities and Public Wi-Fihotspots. The programme will generate huge number of IT, Telecom and Electronics jobs, both directly and indirectly. Success of this programme will make India Digitally empowered and the leader in usage of IT in delivery of services related to various domains such as health, education, agriculture, banking, etc.
**************
PIB
PAYMENT BANK LICENSE TO DOP -
MANY
NEWS ARE COMING ABOUT PAYMENT BANK LICENSE TO DOP
SO
WE MUST KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN DOP WILL GET IT .
HERE IS THIS INFO
The
Payments Bank will be set up as a differentiated bank and shall confine its
activities to further the objectives for which it is set up. Therefore, the
Payments Bank would be permitted to undertake only certain restricted
activities permitted to banks under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, as given
below:
Acceptance
of demand deposits, i.e., current deposits, and savings bank deposits. The
eligible deposits mobilised by the Payments Bank would be covered under the
deposit insurance scheme of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee
Corporation of India (DICGC). Given that their primary role is to provide
payments and remittance services and demand deposit products to small
businesses and low-income households, Payments Banks will initially be
restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs. 100,000 per customer. After the
performance of the Payments Bank is gauged by the RBI, the maximum balance can
be raised. If the transactions in the accounts conform to the “small accounts”1
transactions, simplified KYC/AML/CFT norms will be applicable to such accounts
as defined under the Rules framed under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act,
2002.
Payments
and remittance services through various channels including branches, BCs and
mobile banking. The payments / remittance services would include acceptance of
funds at one end through various channels including branches and BCs and
payments of cash at the other end, through branches, BCs, and Automated Teller
Machines (ATMs). Cash-out can also be permitted at Point-of-Sale terminal
locations as per extant instructions issued under the PSS Act. In the case of walk-in
customers, the bank should follow the extant KYC guidelines issued by the RBI.
Issuance
of PPIs as per instructions issued from time to time under the PSS Act.
Internet
banking -
The RBI is also open to applicants transacting primarily using the
Internet. The Payments Bank is expected to leverage technology to offer low
cost banking solutions. Such a bank should ensure that it has all enabling
systems in place including business partners, third party service providers and
risk managements systems and controls to enable offering transactional services
on the internet. While offering such services, the Payments Bank will be
required to comply with RBI instructions on information security, electronic
banking, technology risk management and cyber frauds.
Functioning
as Business Correspondent (BC) of other banks – A Payments Bank may choose to
become a BC of another bank for credit and other services which it cannot
offer.
The
Payments Bank cannot set up subsidiaries to undertake non-banking financial
services activities. The other financial and non-financial services activities
of the promoters, if any, should be kept distinctly ring-fenced and not
comingled with the banking and financial services business of the Payments
Bank.
The
Payments Bank will be required to use the word “Payments” in its name in order
to differentiate it from other banks.
Deployment
of funds
The
Payments Bank cannot undertake lending activities. Apart from amounts
maintained as Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) with RBI, minimum cash in hand and
balances with a scheduled commercial bank/RBI required for operational
activities and liquidity management, it will be required to invest all its
monies in Government securities/Treasury Bills with maturity up to one year
that are recognized by RBI as eligible securities for maintenance of Statutory
Liquidity Ratio (SLR). The Payments Bank will participate in the payment and
settlement system and will have access to the inter-bank uncollateralised call
money market and the collateralised CBLO market for purposes of temporary
liquidity management.
Capital requirement
Since
the Payments Bank will not be allowed to assume any credit risk, and if its
investments are held to maturity, such investments need not be marked to market
and there may not be any need for capital for market risk. However, the
Payments Bank will be exposed to operational risk. The Payments Bank will also
be required to invest heavily in technological infrastructure for its
operations. The capital will be utilised for creation of such fixed assets.
Therefore, the minimum paid up voting equity capital of the Payments Bank shall
be Rs. 100 crore. Any additional voting equity capital to be brought in will
depend on the business plan of the promoters. Further, the Payments Bank should
have a net worth of Rs 100 crore at all times. The Payments Bank shall be
required to maintain a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 15 per cent of its
risk weighted assets (RWA) on a continuous basis, subject to any higher
percentage as may be prescribed by RBI from time to time. However, as Payments
Banks are not expected to deal with sophisticated products, the capital
adequacy ratio will be computed under simplified Basel I standards.
As
the Payments Bank will have almost zero or negligible risk weighted assets, its
compliance with a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 15 per cent would not
reflect the true risk. Therefore, as a backstop measure, the Payments Bank
should have a leverage ratio of not less than 5 per cent, i.e., its outside
liabilities should not exceed 20 times its net-worth / paid-up capital and
reserves.
Promoter’s contribution
The
promoter’s minimum initial contribution to the paid up voting equity capital of
Payments Bank shall be at least 40 per cent which shall be locked in for a
period of five years from the date of commencement of business of the bank.
Shareholding by promoters in the bank in excess of 40 per cent shall be brought
down to 40 per cent within three years from the date of commencement of
business of the bank. Further, the promoter’s stake should be brought down to
30 per cent of the paid-up voting equity capital of the bank within a period of
10 years, and to 26 per cent within 12 years from the date of commencement of
business of the bank. Proposals having diversified shareholding and a time
frame for listing will be preferred.
Foreign shareholding
The
foreign shareholding in the bank would be as per the extant FDI policy.
Voting rights and transfer/acquisition of shares
As
per Section 12 (2) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the voting rights in
private sector banks are capped at 10 per cent, which can be raised to 26 per
cent in a phased manner by the RBI. Further, as per Section 12B of the Act
ibid, any acquisition of 5 per cent or more of voting equity shares in a
private sector bank will require prior approval of RBI. This will also apply to
the Payments Banks.
Prudential norms
As
the Payments Bank will not have loans and advances in its portfolio, it will
not be exposed to credit risk and, the prudential norms and regulations of RBI
as applicable to loans and advances, will therefore, not apply to it. However,
the Payments Bank will be exposed to operational risk and should establish a
robust operational risk management system. Further, it may face liquidity risk,
and therefore is required to follow RBI’s guidelines on liquidity risk
management, to the extent applicable.
Business plan
The
applicants for Payments Bank licences will be required to furnish their
business plans and project reports with their applications. The business plan
will have to address how the bank proposes to achieve the objectives of setting
up of Payments Banks. The business plan submitted by the applicant should be
realistic and viable. Preference will be given to those applicants who propose
to set up Payments Banks with access points primarily in the under-banked
States / districts in the North-East, East and Central regions of the country.
However, to be effective, the Payments Bank should ensure widespread network of
access points particularly to remote areas, either through their own branch
network or BCs or through networks provided by others. The bank is expected to
adapt technological solutions to lower costs and extend its network. In case of
deviation from the stated business plan after issue of licence, RBI may
consider restricting the bank’s expansion, effecting change in management and
imposing other penal measures as may be necessary.
Corporate governance
The
Board of the Payments Bank should have a majority of independent Directors.
The
bank should comply with the corporate governance guidelines including ‘fit and
proper’ criteria for Directors as issued by RBI from time to time.
//copy//satish24k
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