Regulatory sandbox: RBI seeks applications to test retail payment products

The Reserve Bank of India on Monday invited applications for testing new products and services for retail payments system under the regulatory sandbox scheme.

Earlier in August, the RBI had permitted startups, banks and financial institutions to set up regulatory sandbox (RS) for live testing of innovative products in areas like retail payments, digital KYC and wealth management.

Announcing the opening of first cohort under the RS with retail payments as its theme, the RBI said the window for submission of applications will be be open from November 15 to December 15, 2019.

"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 under-served 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," it said.

The innovative products/services which, among others, will be considered for inclusion under RS, like mobile payments including feature phone based payment services, offline payment solutions (as internet connectivity issues remain unresolved in large areas), and contactless payments.

The objective of the regulatory sandbox is to foster responsible innovation in financial services, promote efficiency and bring benefit to consumers.