TRAI Released a Consultation Paper on USSD-Based Mobile Banking Services

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a Consultation Paper on USSD-based Mobile Banking Services for Financial Inclusion on 23 September 2013. It is important to note that large regions and populations are still unbanked and under-banked in India.

According to the Census 2011, only 54.4 percent of the rural households had access to banking services. From the equity point of view, it is very important that the financial services are provided at an affordable cost to those who are presently excluded from the formal financial system.

A huge population of the mobile subscribers in rural areas does not have access to banking facilities and this can be an opportunity for leveraging the mobile telephone to achieve the goal of financial inclusion. Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) appears to be one of the most promising modes for mobile banking for financial inclusion. In order to identify and address the various issues related to USSD-based mobile banking for financial inclusion, TRAI issued the Consultation Paper.

The consultation paper on USSD-based Mobile Banking Services for Financial Inclusion is available on the official website of TRAI.