The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank of the country, has created a Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF).
The INR5bn ($66.2m) fund was set up to encourage acquirers to deploy physical and digital point of sale (PoS) infrastructure. The focus will be on building digital payment infrastructure in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres and north eastern states.
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In a statement, RBI said: “Over the years, payments ecosystem in the country has evolved with a wide range of options such as bank accounts, mobile phones, cards, etc.
“To provide further fillip to digitisation of payment systems, it is necessary to give impetus to acceptance infrastructure across the country, more so in underserved areas.”
The PIDF fund will be managed and administered by the central bank. An advisory council will be created to govern the initiative.
RBI will make an initial contribution of INR2.5bn and will cover annual deficits, if necessary.
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By GlobalDataThe card issuing banks and card networks will contribute the remaining INR2.5bn amount.
Additionally, these entities will provide periodical contributions to cover operational expenses.
The move to create PIDF comes a week after RBI decided to publish select payment systems data daily.
According to the central bank, publishing data will support research and contribute to innovations in payment systems.
