Reserve Bank of India Governor, Shaktikanta Das, on Friday announced a new scheme on retail digital payments solutions in the offline mode.
“We believe this will help in transactions where internet connectivity is low,” he said.
In August last year, the Reserve Bank on Thursday permitted small value offline transactions through cards and mobile devices for single payments of up to Rs 200 on pilot basis.
Under the pilot scheme, payment system operators (PSO) banks and non-banks may offer digital payments offline (payments that do not require internet connectivity to take effect).
“The Reserve Bank has been encouraging entities to develop offline payment solutions. It is, therefore, proposed to allow a pilot scheme for small value payments in offline mode with built-in features for safeguarding interest of users, liability protection, etc,” the governor said last year.
The RBI said absence of, or erratic, internet connectivity, especially in remote areas, is a major impediment for adoption of digital payments.
Availability of options to make offline payments, using cards, wallets or mobile devices could boost the adoption of digital payments, it said.
The upper limit of a payment transaction was then set at Rs 200.
The pilot scheme was undertaken till March 31, 2021.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das-led Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Friday announced its policy decision at the end of the 3-day bi-monthly review meeting. The monetary policy committee maintained status quo on the repo and the reverse repo rate in order to support growth and tackle inflation.
At its last bi-monthly MPC review meeting held in August, the Reserve Bank maintained status quo on key interest rates for the seventh consecutive time and retained the GDP growth target at 9.5 per cent. It kept the repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent and reverse repo rate untouched at 3.35 per cent.
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Source: News18