New Delhi : Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said it has been decided to include PM Vishwakarma under the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme as well as extend the tenure of the scheme by another two years. It is now proposed to extend the PIDF Scheme by a further period of two years, that is up to December 31, 2025, the governor said while announcing bi-monthly monetary policy.
Operationalised in January 2021, the PIDF Scheme aims at incentivising the deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure such as physical Point of Sale (PoS), Quick Response (QR) codes in tier-3 to tier-6 centres, north-eastern states and Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. As per the original plan, the tenure of PIDF scheme was fixed for three years till December 2023.
Governor Das said, beneficiaries of PM SVANidhi Scheme in Tier-1 and 2 centres were later included in August 2021 under the PIDF scheme. As at end-August 2023, over 2.66 crore new touch points have been deployed under the scheme. "It is now proposed to extend the PIDF Scheme by a further period of two years, i.e., up to December 31, 2025. Also, it is proposed to include beneficiaries of PM Vishwakarma Scheme in all centres under the PIDF Scheme," he said.
This decision to expand the targeted beneficiaries under the PIDF scheme will provide a fillip to the Reserve Bank's efforts towards promoting digital transactions at the grassroots level, he said. Further, he said, based on the feedback received from industry, deployment of emerging modes of payment acceptance, such as soundbox devices and Aadhaar-enabled biometric devices, are proposed to be encouraged under the PIDF Scheme.