The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is working on enabling UPI transactions on feature phones to make digital payments more inclusive, the RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said in a speech on 8 December 2021. The central bank is also considering a discussion paper to reduce the transaction fee charged on card and UPI payments, the governor revealed. Speaking about reforms in UPI, Das also announced plans to introduce an 'on-device wallet' in UPI apps and increase the UPI transaction limit for IPO applications. As digital payments take off rapidly in India, addressing concerns regarding transaction fees and inclusivity is increasingly more crucial. The flipside, however, is that payment frauds go hand-in-hand with growth in digital payments. What's RBI's plan for the future of digital payments? The RBI governor mentioned a few plans for the future in terms of digital payments: Transaction Fee: "There have been some concerns on the reasonableness of various charges incurred by customers for digital payments through credit cards, debit cards, prepaid payment instruments (cards and wallets), Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the like," the governor said, adding that the RBI might release a discussion paper to make digital transactions more affordable. UPI Payments: Under enhancements in UPI, the governor mentioned three separate efforts: Launching UPI-based payment products for feature phone users using RBI's regulatory sandbox on retail payments Improving the process-flow for small transactions through an on-device wallet in UPI apps Increasing the UPI transaction limit for investments in IPOs from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 5…
