Note: You can send your suggestions on amba.salel...@inclusiveplanet.org.in Forwarded Message Begins Hi everyone,
Again, highly last minute, but TRAI has come out with a paper on "USSD-based Mobile Banking Services for Financial Inclusion" and is seeking comments on the same. It appears that comments are open till the 11th. I have attached the paper. Please go through it and respond with your thoughts on how Mobile Banking can benefit persons with disabilities and what are the specific technological solutions which may already exist in this regard. I hope groups like AccessAbility, BarrierBreak and CIS can specifically aid in this regard. Of course this paper concern's TRAI's role but if there is something that the RBI needs to mandate through TRAI's recommendations I am sure that there is a role to play here. Please feel free to include anyone I may have missed. I hope to get your initial responses by 6pm on the 4th. These are the issues which have been identified by the TRAI as relevant, and they seek specific input on these: Q1: Do you agree that USSD is one of the most appropriate modes for mobile banking for financial inclusion? If not, which mode do you think is more appropriate? Please support your viewpoint with reasons. (Here, I think we need to specify whether USSD based services are accessible for persons with disabilities. The alternative is SMS and IVR but USSD is preferred by the TRAI for reasons specified in the paper.) Q2: Do you agree that the Mobile Banking (Quality of Service) Regulations, 2012 should be amended for mandating every TSP, acting as bearer, to facilitate not only the banks but also the agents of banks acting as the aggregation platform providers to use SMS, USSD and IVR to provide banking services to its customers? Please support your viewpoint with reasons. Q3: Do you agree that in the case of USSD transactions for mobile banking, TSPs should collect charges from their subscribers as they do in the case of SMS-based and Application (App) based mobile banking? Please support your viewpoint with reasons. Q4: Do you agree that records for USSD transactions must be generated by the TSPs to provide an audit trail for amounts deducted from prepaid subscribers and bills raised to postpaid subscribers? Please support your viewpoint with reasons. Q5: Would it be appropriate to fix a ceiling of Rs. 1.50 per USSD session for mobile banking? Please support your viewpoint with reasons. Q6: In case your response to Q5 is in the negative, please suggest an alternative methodology to fix a ceiling tariff for a USSD session for mobile banking. You may also support your viewpoint with a fully developed model with associated assumptions, if any. Q7: Is there any other relevant issue which should be considered in the present consultation on the use of USSD as a bearer for mobile banking services? Apparently ICICI and SBI are already using these services. Please do share if you have any experiences with the same. The scope of this paper for intervention is pretty low, but all the same I think we should be making our presence felt. Looking forward to your responses. Best, Amba. --- Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy 12/21, Custain Beach Road, Santhome, Chennai, INDIA 600004 +914424611313 ---- www.inclusiveplanet.org.in -- Avinash Shahi M.Phil Research Scholar Centre for The Study of Law and Governance Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi India Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
