RBI Guv Discusses Plans To Expand UPI Offerings

SUMMARY

The RBI and UPI stakeholders also discussed plans to scale up the UPI infrastructure and ways to address challenges faced by the players

The central bank also sought “innovative” ideas to spur the adoption of UPI and ways to integrate potential users into the digital payments ecosystem

UPI continues to see rapid adoption across the board, clocking 1,330 Cr transactions worth INR 19.64 Lakh Cr in April 2024

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, on Wednesday (May 8), held a meeting with major stakeholders of the unified payments interface (UPI) ecosystem to discuss strategies for expanding digital payment offerings.

The meeting was also attended by RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar as well as representatives of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), banks, third party application providers (TPAP) and technology service providers.

The two sides also discussed plans to scale up the UPI infrastructure and ways to address challenges faced by the fintech players. The central bank also sought “innovative” ideas to integrate potential users into the digital payments ecosystem.

“The Governor, Reserve Bank of India, held a meeting on May 08, 2024, with the major stakeholders in the UPI ecosystem… to discuss potential strategies for further expanding the reach of UPI.. There were wide ranging discussions on various aspects to widen and deepen the adoption and usage of UPI,” said the central bank in a statement.

The RBI said that it will examine various suggestions received from the participants of the meeting and take action in “due course” of time.

With this, the central bank is looking to take stock of the issues faced by the fintech ecosystem, especially the digital payments space. This comes at a time when the RBI has cracked the whip on multiple fintech platforms for non-compliance with existing rules and regulations.

Earlier this year, it banned Paytm Payments Bank from offering various services while it also barred Kotak Mahindra Bank from onboarding new customers through its online and mobile banking channels last month.

While it had also tightened its noose around payment aggregators (PAs) in the past one year, the RBI now has begun issuing PA licences in droves since the start of the year.

Notwithstanding this, UPI continues to see rapid adoption across the board. As per NPCI data, the digital payments network clocked 1,330 Cr transactions worth INR 19.64 Lakh Cr in April 2024.

Walmart-owned fintech major PhonePe continued its grip over the digital payments space, accounting for nearly half (48.87%) of the total transactions in April.