The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced operational guidelines for the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme, aimed at encouraging the deployment of more digital payment infrastructure in tier-3 to tier-6 centres.

The central Bank said Payments Infrastructure Development Fund has been operationalised to create 30 lakh new touchpoints every year for digital payments in Tier3 to Tier-6 centres. In June last year, the RBI had announced the creation of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF). The fund intended to subsidise deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres, with special focus on the north-eastern states.

 In a statement, the central bank said an Advisory Council (AC), under the Chairmanship of RBI Deputy Governor BP Kanungo, has been constituted for managing the PIDF. It will be operational for a period of three years from January 01, 2021, and maybe extended for two more years, depending upon the progress. The PIDF presently has a corpus of Rs 345 crore -- Rs 250 crore contributed by the Reserve Bank of India and Rs 95 crore by the major authorised card networks in the country. The target for the PIDF is increasing payments acceptance infrastructure by adding 30 lakh touch points every year - 10 lakh physical and 20 lakh digital payment acceptance devices

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