Reserve Bank Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty on Tuesday called up on banks to begin a journey onto the path of paperless, cheque-less and cashless banking stating that the future of banking lies there.

"The next big challenge for our banks is to make banking paperless, cheque-less and cashless," he told the sixth Banking Technology Summit organised by CII here.

"I know the answers to these questions are not easy and nobody has a readymade answer. But this should put us on the track to think differently and think big. It would definitely take time to achieve these goals but it is not impossible as it is already happening globally," he noted.

Noting that technology is changing the cultural and business landscapes beyond recognition, the deputy governor said the world over, organisations are using transformative power of technology to create business value for today, and step-function growth for tomorrow. And the banking sector cannot be any exception, he added.

With financial inclusion gaining faster currency, he admitted that role of the banker is very challenging today as at one end of his spectrum lies the demand to achieve financial inclusion as nearly 50 per cent are yet to be covered under the formal system of banking and at the other end lies the task to fulfil the needs of the existing customer.

Stating that core banking is one of the top priorities of RBI, Chakrabarty said, "The first priority is to get all banks on adopting core banking solution, including all RRBs. The next is a multi-channel approach using handheld devices, mobiles, cards, micro-ATMs, branches, kiosks etc can be used."

RBI had recently released its IT Vision document for 2011-17 that envisages transforming RBI into a knowledge organisation using IT as a strategic resource, IT governance.

It also looks at banks moving from core banking to enhanced use of IT in areas like regulatory reporting, risk management, MIS, financial inclusion and CRM.

On the need for curbing the rising instances of cyber fraud in banks, he said it is necessary to improve controls and examine the need for pro-active fraud risk assessments and management processes in commercial banks.