Concept paper proposed on card usage

The Reserve Bank on Tuesday said it will come out with a concept paper on promoting electronic payments, especially in smaller towns, by November-end. "With growing financial inclusion, there are concerted efforts to enhance the use of technology and move towards a 'less-cash' society. "In order to promote electronic payments and use of cards for transactions, the Reserve Bank will put in the public domain a concept paper for proliferation of card acceptance infrastructure in the country, especially in the tier III to tier VI centres, by end-November 2015," it said. In its Fourth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy statement, the RBI also said it has issued Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination banknotes with a new numbering pattern with ascending order of the size of the numbers from left to right. "This is being introduced in a phased manner for all denominations of banknotes," the RBI said. Further, with a view to making identification of banknotes easier for visually challenged persons, the process for introduction of additional identification marks has been initiated and is being introduced in Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.