India has made vital progress and moved to a management place in large-value digital cost methods, although it’s nonetheless weak in sure parameters regarding ATMs and card funds, a RBI report stated on Friday.
India was categorised as a ‘leader’ or ‘strong’ in respect of 25 (21 within the earlier train) out of 40 indicators and categorised as ‘weak’ in respect of 8 (12 within the earlier train) indicators, stated the report on ‘Benchmarking India’s Payment Systems’, offering a comparative place of the funds ecosystem in India relative to different main international locations.
The benchmarking train was first carried out in 2019 with respect to the place in 2017.
This follow-on benchmarking train, overlaying the identical international locations and parameters used within the earlier examine, was undertaken with respect to the place in 2020, the RBI stated.
“India has made significant progress and moved to a leadership position in large value payment systems and fast payment systems, which contributed to rapid growth in digital payments,” the report stated.
Since the final train, India has demonstrated enchancment in digital cost choices obtainable for invoice funds, ticketing methods for public transportation, obtainable channels for cross-border remittances and decline in cheque utilization.
“The exercise highlights that there is scope for improvement in acceptance infrastructure — ATMs and PoS terminals. The Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme was operationalised in 2021 to enhance the acceptance infrastructure and bridge the gap,” the report stated.
It additional stated the decline in India’s score in some parameters involving foreign money in circulation is defined by the elevated demand for money as a retailer of worth throughout the Covid-19 pandemic associated lockdown and the slowdown in financial progress throughout 2020.
The RBI burdened that the learnings from the benchmarking train are anticipated to facilitate additional enhancements within the funds panorama in India.
Regulation continues to be sturdy in India with many proactive buyer centric initiatives being taken.
Other parameters on which India has achieved a robust or management place embody e-money and buyer safety.
The report famous that India’s home card community — RuPay — dominates the debit card section so far as card issuance is worried. However, RuPay is lagging within the bank card section with under 3 per cent share of whole playing cards issued.
In 2020, the share of card funds in whole cost methods transactions was the second lowest in India (14.7 per cent), with solely Indonesia witnessing a decrease share (7.2 per cent).
It additionally stated although India has the third largest variety of ATMs deployed, it continues to fare poorly with regard to individuals served per ATM on account of its sizeable inhabitants. A single ATM catering to over 5,800 individuals as at finish 2020.
However, this might not be a priority as money withdrawals in India are additionally facilitated by different channels corresponding to PoS terminals and micro ATMs utilizing Aadhaar enabled cost methods (AePS), the RBI added.
On approach ahead, the report stated with world give attention to enhancing cross-border cost preparations, it’s important that India explores additional actions on this enviornment, which might additional its relative place and take away frictions in such transactions.
These measures may embody, constructing on the UPI-PayNow interface and exploring avenues for interlinking UPI with quick cost methods in different jurisdictions, and enhancing/reviewing the prescribed limits for inward remittances utilizing the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) to enhance buyer comfort.
It additionally burdened that internationalisation of Indian rupee will facilitate better diploma of integration of Indian economic system with remainder of the world, by way of overseas commerce and worldwide capital flows.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”