RBI to Adopt 75 Villages as Digital Payment-Enabled Villages

NEW DELHI: The digital payment model has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years, especially during the Covid era. So much so that it has become an essential part of the life of many people across the country.

In a step towards the inclusion of the people at the grass root level, the Reserve Bank of India, the apex monetary regulatory body of the country has announced a new project in the country. As a part of this project, a total of 75 villages will be selected by the Reserve Bank of India. These villages will be trained and converted into digital payment-enabled villages.

“We have also decided to initiate a 75 Digital Villages programme through adoption of 75 villages and involvement of village-level entrepreneurs,” said Reserve Bank of India Governor Shakitkanta Das. He mentioned this while speaking at the Digital Payments Awareness Week of 2023. This year’s event saw the launch of the Har Payment Digital mission for furthering the reach of digital banking options in the country.

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India also spoke about how the country's payment systems have evolved over the years and how it is now possible to make settlements around the clock and the multitude of options and systems to achieve the same. The digital payments systems have witnessed more than 1000 crore transactions every month since the December of 2022 in the country.

Mentioning about the Unified Payments Interface, commonly called the UPI, which was launched in 2016, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Inda mentioned that the number of transactions made through the Unified Payments Interface has increased from around 0.45 Cr in January 2017 to 804 Cr in January of 2023. Even in terms of value, it has increased from around Rs 1700 Cr in January 2017 to Rs 12.98 Lakh Cr in January 2023.

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