RBI To Launch Public Tech Platform Project On August 17 For Ease Of Credit Delivery

RBI noted that the Public Tech Platform will help make possible a smooth delivery of credit by maintaining a seamless digital information flow.

More products, information providers, and lenders could be included in the platform once the pilot progresses well.

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The Reserve Bank of India announced on Monday that it will launch a pilot project for ‘Public Tech Platform’ with an aim to facilitate credit through a smooth flow of the needed digital information to lenders. 

According to a PTI report, the platform will focus on products like Kisan Credit Card loans of up to Rs 1.6 lakh per borrower, MSME loans (without collateral), dairy loans, personal loans, and home loans through the participating banks, in the pilot stage. 

The bank informed that the platform is being built with the objective to link services like Aadhaar e-KYC, satellite data, PAN validation, Aadhaar e-signing and house/property search data, and many more. The platform will also cater to services like getting land records from the participating state governments (Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra).

Depending on how the platform performs in the pilot stage, it’s scope will be expanded. More products, information providers, and lenders could be included in the platform once the pilot progresses well, RBI noted. The pilot of the platform is expected to start on August 17, 2023. 

The banking regulator further stated that India has completely adapted to the concept of digital public infrastructure with rapid development in digitalisation. As such, banks, NBFCs, fintech companies, and startups are being encouraged to develop and cater fresh solutions in payments, credit, and other financial services. 

RBI noted that the Public Tech Platform will help make possible a smooth delivery of credit by maintaining a seamless digital information flow. For delivering credit digitally, separate entities like the central and state governments, banks, and credit information companies, among others hold the data needed for credit appraisal. But this data existing in separate entities and systems creates a problem in ensuring speedy and efficient delivery of credit. 

This issue will be taken care of through the platform. The end-to-end digital platform will provide all financial institutions and affiliated entities with an open architecture, open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and standards, which will help the flow of information, the bank noted in the report. 

The RBI noted in it’s release, “The platform is intended to be rolled out as a pilot project in a calibrated fashion, both in terms of access to information providers and use cases. It will bring about efficiency in the lending process in terms of reduction of costs, quicker disbursement, and scalability.”

The RBI is developing the platform through it’s wholly-owned subsidiary, the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH).