RBI Announces Opening Of First Cohort Under Regulatory Sandbox

The Reserve Bank announces the opening of first cohort under the Regulatory Sandbox (RS) with 'Retail Payments', as its theme. The adoption of 'Retail Payments' as the theme is expected to spur innovation in digital payments space and help in offering payment services to the unserved and underserved segment of the population. Migration to digital modes of making a payment can obviate some of the costs associated with a cash economy and can give customers a friction-free experience. The innovative products/services which, among others, shall be considered for inclusion under RS are as follows:

Mobile payments including feature phone based payment services - General innovation in mobile payment services has focussed on or supported app-based access, limited to smartphones and such devices. There is a need to innovate payment services for feature phones to provide the necessary thrust towards enhanced adoption of digital payments by various strata of society.

Offline payment solutions - Consumer behaviour has been driving growth of digital payment systems as more and more consumers are embracing mobile technology. Though mobile internet speed has risen, connectivity issues remain unresolved in large areas. Therefore, providing an option of off-line payments through mobile devices for furthering the adoption of digital payments is required.

Contactless payments - Contactless payments, while decreasing the time taken for payment checkout, also ease payments for small ticket payment transactions. Tokenisation technologies often form the basis of facilitating seamless e-commerce experiences fuelled by mobile and other connected devices. The rapid growth in devices provides a significant opportunity for payments through any form factor and anywhere.

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