RBI Launches Digital Payments Index To Track Digital Transactions In India

On 1 January, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it has constructed a composite Digital Payments Index (DPI) to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country. This is in line with a significant development from the sharp pick-up in digital transactions seen in the recent past.

The RBI-DPI comprises of five broad parameters that enable the measurement of deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over different time periods. These parameters are Payment Enablers, Payment Infrastructure - Demand-side factors, Payment Infrastructure - Supply-side factors, Payment Performance and Consumer Centricity, the RBI said.

Each of these parameters has sub-parameters which, in turn, consist of various measurable indicators, the central bank added.

The RBI-DPI has been constructed with March 2018 as the base period, i.e. DPI score for March 2018 is set at 100. The DPI for March 2019 and March 2020 work out to 153.47 and 207.84 respectively, indicating appreciable growth. Going forward, RBI-DPI shall be published on RBI's website on a semi-annual basis from March 2021 onwards with a lag of 4 months.