You are a bank customer who has been duped of a small-value digital transaction? 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) promises to offer you some relief as it proposes to compensate bank customers up to Rs 25,000 for losses from such digital frauds.

Amid a surge in digital fraud cases, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said Friday the proposed compensation will be a one-time relief and will cover up to 85% of the amount lost or Rs 25,000.

Being limited to once in a lifetime, the compensation is set to encourage customers to avoid repeated mistakes.

What if the customer has made the mistake of sharing a one-time password (OTO)? This will not prevent such customers from availing of the compensation. 

“As long as they are defrauded, whether on their own account or anyone’s account, no questions asked…we will compensate them as long as it is unintended and they lost that money,” Malhotra said.

The pay-out to the bank customers will be made from the Rs 85,000-crore Deposit Education and Awareness Fund, which also includes deposits which are unclaimed for over 10 years.

Nearly 65% of the digital frauds reported by banks involve losses of under Rs 50,000, the RBI said. It stressed that a bulk of the fraud-hit people stand to benefit from the facility. 

As part of the customer-centric measures, Malhotra said the RBI will issue three draft guidelines, including mis-selling of financial products; loan recovery through engagement of agents to prevent harassment of borrowers; and limiting customer liability through unauthorised electronic banking transactions.

Third-party products and services being sold at bank counters should be suitable to customer needs and commensurate with their risk appetite, the RBI said.

The central bank will also issue a discussion paper on measures to enhance the safety and security of digital payments, with the introduction of "lagged credits" and additional authentication for senior citizens.