Make Pos Devices Accessible To Persons With Disabilities: RBI To Fintechs

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked fintechs and banks to make their point of sale (PoS) devices and other payment solutions accessible to persons with disabilities (PwDs).

In a statement, the central bank said that at a time when all sections of the population, including differently abled persons, are increasingly adopting digital payment systems, payment system participants (PSPs) should review their payment systems/ devices in terms of accessibility to PwDs. 

“While selecting potential solutions for the purpose, care should be taken to ensure that the modifications / enhancements do not compromise security aspects of their systems,” it said. 

Additionally, the PSPs have been asked to submit the details of their systems that need to be modified, along with a time bound plan of action for those modifications, within one month from the date of issue of the notice. 

The statement comes after the finance ministry released the “Accessibility Standards and Guidelines for Banking Sector” earlier this year.

The recent update is in line with the RBI’s effort to make fintech space more accessible to the wider population in India. 

For instance, earlier this year, the central bank said it will soon launch a platform to offer credit to rural and small businesses.

Dubbed ‘Unified Lending Interface’, the platform will cater to large unmet demand for credit across various sectors, particularly for agricultural and MSME borrowers.

Earlier this week, the central bank also increased the transaction limit for UPI123Pay and UPI Lite to further increase UPI adoption.

While the transaction limit of UPI123 Pay will be increased to INR 10,000 from the current INR 5,000, the limit for UPI Lite will be increased to INR 1,000 from the current INR 500. 

The developments come at a time when UPI continues to grow by leaps and bounds. In September, the number of UPI transactions surged to 15.04 Bn from 14.96 Bn in the previous month.

Fintech giants PhonePe and GooglePay continue to dominate the UPI market. 

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