RBI Aims To Include Other Lenders Via Nabard On ULI: Shaktikanta Das
The central bank is focusing on making the UPI and RuPay truly global, the governor says.
The Reserve Bank of India is planning to include other lenders, such as cooperative credit institutions, through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development on its Unified Lending Interface platform, Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Wednesday.
"There are about 50 such types of data services on the platform," Das said at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai. "Apart from banks and NBFCs, we are now focusing on inclusion of other lenders like cooperative credit institutions through the Nabard."
"A full-scale launch of ULI will be done in due course," he said at the FinTech Innovations for India @100 event: 'Shaping the Future of India's Financial Landscape'.
The central bank had on Monday launched the ULI, which aims to cut down the time taken for credit appraisal, especially for smaller and rural borrowers. The ULI platform went through a pilot launch last year, where the central bank tested the efficacy of the system in real-life situations. At the time, this was called the Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit.
At the event, Das proposed policy priorities — strengthening digital financial inclusion, deepening digital public infrastructure, ensuring consumer protection and cyber security. Sustainable finance and global integration and cooperation were also among the five key factors.
Das said that the central bank was focusing on making the Unified Payments Interface and RuPay truly global.
He said the deployment of UPI-like infrastructure in foreign jurisdictions, facilitating QR code-based payment acceptance through UPI apps at international merchant locations, and interlinking UPI with fast payment systems of other countries for cross-border remittances are on top of the RBI's agenda.
Technology can play a pivotal role in overcoming challenges with respect to green bond and green deposit frameworks. While these two frameworks are beneficial and include scalability, the market for green bonds needs to expand significantly to attract larger issuances and a diverse set of investors, according to Das.
He said that ensuring authenticity and impact of green projects, financed through these frameworks, requires robust monitoring and reporting mechanisms.
The RBI governor emphasised the importance of adopting a customer-centric approach and promoting cybersecurity awareness as financial transactions are increasingly migrating online with the threat landscape expanding exponentially.
