On June 8, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed to increase the subsidy amount and simplify the claims process under the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme. The regulator said it would be notified of the proposed amendments soon.

According to the RBI, the modifications are expected to accelerate further and expand the deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure in targeted regions.

The PIDF is planned to be implemented by the Central Bank in January 2021 to incentivise the deployment of Point-of-Sale (PoS), mPoS (Mobile PoS), and Quick Response (QR) codes in Level 3 to Level 6 centres and Northeastern states.

The initial goal of the plan was to deploy 90 lakh PoS terminals and Quick Response (QR) codes within three years or by the end of 2023. The target was met by the deadline, and by the end of April, the program had deployed more than 1.18 crore new touchpoints.

Experts say the number of credit card transactions in the country has grown exponentially over the past few years.
According to an August report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Credit card issuance has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% over the past four years. The number of credit card holders increased from 29 million in March 2017 to 62 million in March 2021.