In Bid To Create Cash-Lite Economy, RBI To Set Up Fund For Increasing Card Acceptance Across Tier III And IV Towns

In a bid to boost adoption of card payments in India, particularly the smaller towns of the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is mulled the creation of an Acceptance Development Fund which will be used to ensure the availability of card acceptance infrastructure, with special focus on Tier III and Tier IV towns, reports The Economic Times.

The plan is for the fund to become operational by December 2019. The move stems from the central bank’s vision document 'Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision – 2019-2021' released earlier this year, where this goal was clearly outlined.

"Domestic cards have stabilised well and the potential for their large-scale use is high. Efforts will be made to increase the scope, coverage and usage of domestic cards, including the RuPay card scheme which was launched in March 2012. Collaborative effort will be initiated among NPCI, banks and the Government to widen and deepen the scope / usage of RuPay cards to enhance its brand value internationally," the document reads.

If things go according to plan, then India will have 5 million card acceptance points of sale (PoS) by year-end in 2021. Simultaneously, there will also be massive growth in the presence of digital PoS.

The aim of the exercise is to further push people away from cash transactions and create a cash lite economy.