RBI Proposes To Include Beneficiaries of PM Vishwakarma Scheme Under PIDF Scheme

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday proposed to extend the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme by a further period of two years, i.e., up to December 31, 2025. The central bank has also proposed to include beneficiaries of the PM Vishwakarma Scheme in all centres under the PIDF Scheme.

This decision to expand the targeted beneficiaries under the PIDF scheme will provide a fillip to the Reserve Bank's efforts towards promoting digital transactions at the grassroots level. Noticeably, the deployment of emerging modes of payment acceptance, such as soundbox devices and Aadhaar-enabled biometric devices, are proposed to be encouraged under the PIDF Scheme.

The PIDF Scheme was operationalised by the Reserve Bank in January 2021 for a period of three years. The objective was to incentivise the deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure such as physical Point of Sale (PoS), and Quick Response (QR) codes in tier-3 to tier-6 centres, northeastern states, and Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Beneficiaries of the PM SVANidhi Scheme in Tier-1 and 2 centres were later included in August 2021.

As of end-August 2023, over 2.66 crore new touchpoints have been deployed under the Scheme.
According to RBI's statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies, based on the feedback received from the industry, deployment of emerging modes of payment acceptance, such as soundbox devices and Aadhaar-enabled biometric devices, are proposed to be encouraged under the PIDF Scheme. This is expected to further accelerate and augment the deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure in the targeted geographies. The amendments will be notified shortly.

Today, RBI kept the repo rate unchanged for the fourth consecutive time at 6.5% on Friday. The RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said," After a detailed assessment of the evolving macroeconomic and financial developments and the outlook, it decided unanimously to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent." Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate remains at 6.25%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.75%.

Das said, "Taking into account the evolving inflation-growth dynamics and the cumulative policy repo rate hike of 250 basis points which is still working through the economy, the MPC decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.50 percent in this meeting. The transmission of the 250 basis points (bps) increase in the policy repo rate to bank lending and deposit rates is still incomplete and hence the MPC decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation."