On March 25, 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a framework for Geo-tagging of Payment System Touch Points/acceptance infrastructure under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).
- This system will be deployed by banks / non-bank Payment System Operators (PSOs) to ensure proper monitoring of the availability of payment acceptance infrastructure.
- The framework was issued on the lines of the Monetary Policy Statement 2020-21 of October 08, 2021.
Need behind this Framework:
To capture the accurate location of existing payment system touch points in order to make them accessible at all times.
RBI’s Key Definitions:
i.Geo-tagging: It captures the geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) of payment touchpoints deployed by merchants to receive payments from their customers.
ii.Infrastructure: It is digital payment transactions carried out by customers using payment touch points. It uses two broad categories of physical infrastructure:
- Banking infrastructure: It comprises bank branches, offices, extension counters, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) / Cash Deposit Machines (CDMs), Cash Recycler Machines (CRMs), micro-ATMs used by Business Correspondents (BCs), etc.
- Payment acceptance infrastructure: It comprises Points of Sale (PoS) terminals, Quick Response (QR) codes deployed by banks / non-bank Payment System Operators (PSOs), etc.
Key Features of Framework:
i.All banks / Non-bank PSOs will maintain a registry with accurate location of all payment touch points across the country, including Merchant-related information and Payment acceptance infrastructure details.
ii.Geo-tagging information in respect to PoS terminals and Paper-based/Soft QR (Quick Response) Codes should be submitted to the Reserve Bank.
iii.All banks / Non-bank PSOs should report information on payment touch points to the RBI through its’ Centralised Information Management System (CIMS) in .txt / CSV file format.
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About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):
Establishment– April 1, 1935
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Governor– Shaktikanta Das
Deputy Governors– Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao, T. Rabi Sankar
