RBI to reduce transaction cost on online payments

NEW DELHI: RBI today informed a parliamentary panel that it is working on a mechanism to bring down transaction cost on online payments even as the meeting was stalled for a while as BJP members protested Chairman K V Thomas’ statement on demonetisation.

RBI Governor Urjit Patel along with Deputy Governor R Gandhi and other senior functionaries appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for oral evidence on ‘Review of Monetary Policy’.

As soon as the meeting began, Thomas, a Congress MP, made a statement on demonetisation, prompting protests from BJP members, including Bhupender Yadav, Kirit Somaiya and Nishikant Dubey.

Citing the amendment in the RBI Act in 2016, they said any question asked of Patel must be in context of the central bank’s monetary policy and not outside it.

“The conduct of monetary policy function by the RBI under the RBI Act is different from the action taken by the Government for withdrawal of legal tender character of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 bank notes under a different provision of the Act,” Dubey said.