RBI to set up Rs 500 cr payments infra development fund

The Reserve Bank is setting up a Rs 500-crore payments infrastructure development fund to subsidise deployment of points of sale acceptance infrastructure with an initial corpus of Rs 250 crore. The move is part of the central bank's payment systems vision 2019-21 which envisages creating an acceptance development fund which is rechristened the payments infrastructure development fund. The fund would help subsidise deployment of points of sale machines and the related infrastructure, it said in the Financial Stability Report released on Friday.

The focus of the fund is to increase the acceptance infrastructure, both physical as well as digital modes, across the country with emphasis on tier III to tier VI centres and the northeastern states.

"The RBI has made an initial contribution of Rs 250 crore to the corpus of the fund covering half the fund and remaining contribution will be from card issuing banks and card networks operating," the central bank said.

The fund will be governed through an advisory council and managed and administered by the RBI.