Operationalisation of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme
- Please refer to the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies dated October 4, 2019 and the Press Release dated June 05, 2020 announcing creation of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF). PIDF is intended to subsidise deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres with special focus on North Eastern States of the country. It envisages creating 30 lakh new touch points every year for digital payments.
- The framework of PIDF is enclosed (Annex – I). An Advisory Council (AC), under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Governor, RBI, has been constituted for managing the PIDF. PIDF will be operational for a period of three years from January 01, 2021 and may be extended for two more years depending upon the progress. PIDF presently has a corpus of ₹ 345 crore (₹ 250 crore contributed by RBI and ₹ 95 crore by the major authorised card networks in the country).
- All stakeholders are requested to co-operate in this endeavour by – (a) making their contributions to PIDF within the timelines, and (b) deploying acceptance infrastructure and seeking reimbursement from PIDF.
- These directions are issued under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).
