The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has called in local vendor RS Software to build a digital payments platform designed to facilitate the country's push to electronic money.
The Indian government has made the migration from cash to electronic payments a key plank of its strategy to boost financial inclusion, joining the UN-based Better than Cash Alliance and relaxing the regulatory environment for new mobile-based financial services providers.
The NPCI has been given the task of consolidating and integrating the country's various retail payments systems, creating one electronic platform and a set of APIs designed to wean India off of cash and onto electronic transactions, making the most of its 900 million mobile phones.
RS Software has won the rights to build the platform , which will feature a unified payments interface that financial institutions can tap into via APIs and use for new mobile payment products. The system will allow consumers to send and receive money without requiring bank account information and use two factor authentication.
Raj Jain, MD, RS Software, says: "We are delighted to have been selected by NPCI for this very important national payments initiative. We believe it will be the foundation for enabling a new ecosystem that fosters innovation and will help India achieve the transition to digital payments."