Six entities exit first cohort of RBI's regulatory sandbox on retail payments

Reserve Bank of India (File image)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on September 13 said six entities have completed the ‘Test Phase’ under the first cohort of regulatory sandbox based on retail payments.

The six entities are Nucleus Software Exports Ltd (PaySe), Tap Smart Data Information Services Private Limited (Citycash), Natural Support Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd (IND-e-Cash), Naffa Innovations Pvt. Ltd (ToneTag), Ubona Technologies Pvt Ltd (BHIM Voice) and Eroute Technologies Pvt Ltd.

PaySe is an offline digital cash product using Near Field Communication NFC or Bluetooth Low energy protocol for secure wireless offline payment mode where no other connectivity is required at the time of the customer transaction at merchant location.

‘Citycash’ is a set of NFC based Prepaid card and NFC enabled Point of Sale (PoS) device to facilitate offline Person-to-Merchant (P2M) transactions and the card can be used for travel pass and wallet to pay in offline mode for bus ticket and at select merchants. 'IND-e-Cash' uses the same NFC technology to enable offline digital payments in remote locations.

ToneTag offers phone-based payment solutions via feature phones for P2M transactions over sound medium by establishing a secure channel to transfer data over Interactive Voice Response (IVR) between devices.

BHIM Voice is a voice-based UPI payment solution facilitating offline Person-to Person (P2P) and P2M transactions via phones and offering convenience of preferred Indian language to the customer through IVR.

Eroute Technologies Pvt. Ltd's sandbox product is a UPI based offline payment solution using SIM overlay smartcard placed on the SIM to drive SIM Tool Kit (STK) menu-based user interface to facilitate transactions.

On May 10, 2021, Eroute Technologies was granted authorisation by RBI to operate as a prepaid payment instruments (PPI) company.

The products were evaluated based on mutually agreed test scenarios and expected outcomes, the RBI said in a release. All the products have been found viable within the boundary conditions defined during testing under Regulatory Sandbox, the central bank said.

The products found acceptable under this cohort may be considered for adoption by regulated entities subject to compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, the RBI said.