The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made an announcement regarding the initiation of the Pilot Project for the Public Tech Platform designed to facilitate seamless credit processes, as introduced by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI. This innovative Public Tech Platform is geared towards ensuring the effortless provision of credit by establishing a smooth and uninterrupted flow of essential digital data to lending institutions, as outlined by the Reserve Bank.
Scheduled for a gradual launch on August 17, 2023, the Platform will be introduced in a methodical manner, both in terms of access granted to information providers and the specific use cases it will cater to. According to the RBI’s statement, the objective is to execute this platform as a pilot initiative with meticulous planning, taking into account controlled access for information providers and a targeted range of use cases. The primary aim is to enhance the efficiency of the RBI’s lending procedures, encompassing cost reduction, expedited fund disbursement, and scalability.
The RBI’s release also underscores the fact that the proposed digital platform will feature an open structure, complete with accessible Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and universally accepted standards. This approach will enable all participants within the financial sector to seamlessly connect, following a ‘plug and play’ model.
The initial phase of the pilot program will concentrate on specific financial products, including Kisan Credit Card loans amounting to ₹1.6 lakh per borrower, Dairy Loans, unsecured MSME loans, Personal loans, and Home loans. These offerings will be facilitated through the involvement of participating banks.
Moreover, the platform is poised to establish links with various services, such as Aadhaar e-KYC, land records sourced from select State Governments (namely Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra), Satellite data, PAN Validation, Transliteration, Aadhaar e-signatures, account aggregation facilitated by Account Aggregators (AAs), and data pertaining to milk production from designated dairy cooperatives. The platform will also include data related to house and property searches.
Based on the insights garnered from the pilot phase, the scope and extent of coverage will subsequently be broadened to encompass a more comprehensive array of products, information providers, and lending institutions, as detailed in the RBI’s official release.
