PM Vishwakarma Scheme Beneficiaries Will Be Included In PIDF Scheme: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to include beneficiaries of the PM Vishwakarma Scheme in all centres under the  Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme. This decision to expand the targeted beneficiaries under the PIDF scheme will provide a fillip to the Reserve Bank’s efforts towards promoting digital transactions at the grassroots level. 

The PIDF scheme was operationalised by the RBI in January 2021 for a period of three years. The objective was to incentivise the deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure such as physical Point of Sale (PoS), and quick response (QR) codes in tier-three to tier-6 centres, northeastern states and Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. 

Beneficiaries of the PM SVANidhi Scheme in Tier-1 and 2 centres were later included in August 2021. As of end-August 2023, over 2.66 crore new touchpoints have been deployed under the Scheme. It is now proposed to extend the PIDF Scheme by a further period of two years, i.e., upto 31 December 2025.

Also, it is proposed to include beneficiaries of the PM Vishwakarma Scheme in all centres under the PIDF Scheme. Further, based on the feedback received from the industry, the deployment of emerging modes of payment acceptance, such as soundbox devices and Aadhaar-enabled biometric devices, is proposed to be encouraged under the PIDF Scheme. 

This is expected to further accelerate and augment the deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure in the targeted geographies. The amendments will be notified shortly.

"The extension of the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme tenure by the Reserve Bank of India is a positive development. This demonstrates the regulator's dedication to expanding the accessibility and use of digital payments," said remarked Ramesh Narasimhan, CEO, Worldline India.

"We anticipate actively contributing as a prominent player in payments to expedite the adoption of digital payment methods in the specified regions," remarked Narasimhan.