RBI launches ‘Digital payments index (RBI-DPI)’

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on January 1, 2021 announced that it has constructed a composite Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country.

• The RBI-DPI has been constructed with March 2018 as the base period. DPI score for March 2018 is set at 100.

• The DPI for March 2019 and March 2020 work out to 153.47 and 207.84 respectively, indicating appreciable growth.

• Five Parameters: The RBI-DPI comprises five broad parameters that enable the measurement of deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over different time periods. These parameters are:
  1. Payment Enablers,
  2. Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors,
  3. Payment Infrastructure – Supply-side factors,
  4. Payment Performance and
  5. Consumer Centricity.

• RBI-DPI will be published on the RBI’s website on a semi-annual basis from March 2021 onwards with a lag of four months.