Clear account with one click of smartphone. The story of sharing the OTP and becoming independent is now going from house to house. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken an unprecedented step to deal with this dark side of the digital age. On Thursday, Central Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra announced that customers who fall victim to digital fraud will be compensated up to Rs 25,000. The biggest news is that this compensation will be available even if the OTP is shared by mistake.

The compensation will be paid from the ‘Depositor Education and Awareness’ (DEA) fund, RBI said. At present, about 85 thousand crore rupees are deposited in this fund. This fund is made up of unclaimed deposits lying for more than 10 years. Deputy Governor Swaminathan J said that compensation from this huge fund will not have a significant impact on the overall economy.

What are the conditions?

As there are benefits, there are some strict rules. Firstly, a customer will be eligible for this compensation only once in a lifetime. Secondly, whether there is any ulterior motive or collusion on the part of the customer behind the fraud will be investigated. The RBI has clarified that consumers should also have some responsibility or ‘skin in the game’. That is why 15 percent of the fraudulent amount has to be borne by the customer. The remaining 85 percent will be received as compensation, the upper limit of which is 25,000 taka.

Why this move?

According to bank officials, almost two-thirds of digital fraud cases in the country are below Rs 50,000. As a result, this protection cover of 25 thousand rupees will give relief to a large part of the common people. In the words of Governor Malhotra, “If the transaction is inadvertent and the money is lost, the money will be paid without question.”

Apart from this, the central bank has indicated a set of new safeguards for the protection of senior citizens, such as increased verification or lagging credit. It is said that soon the draft rules will be released for public opinion.