The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently extended the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme till December 31, 2025.
About Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme:
- The Scheme was operationalized by the RBI in 2021 for three years (extendable up to 2 years) to encourage deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure in India.
- It includes physical Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, Quick Response (QR) codes, in tier-3 to tier-6 centers, North Eastern states and Union Territories (UTs) of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
- Purpose: To strengthen the payment acceptance infra by including 30 lakh touch points, which includes 10 lakh physical and 20 lakh digital payment devices every year.
- This provides financial assistance to banks and Non-Bank Financial Companies (NBFCs) for such deployment.
- The corpus of PIDF stands at Rs 1,026.37 crore, as funded by the RBI and major authorized card networks in India.
Progress on PIDF Scheme:
- The beneficiaries of the PM Vishwakarma Scheme across the country would now be included as merchants for deployment under the PIDF Scheme.
- Apart from physical and digital devices, Soundbox devices and Aadhaar-enabled biometric devices are made eligible for subsidy for installations made from October 1, 2023.
- The amount of subsidy for devices deployed in special focus areas, including North Eastern States, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, has been increased from 75% to 90% of the total cost.
- Distribution of physical and digital devices:
- Tier 1 & 2 centres (PM SVANidhi Scheme): 308 physical and 12,83,147 digital devices.
- Tier 3 & 4 cities: Around 3,99,089 physical devices and 91,99,972 digital devices.
- Tier 5 & 6 Centres: 3,23,236 physical devices and 1,47,48,608 digital devices.
Tier I to VI cities in India:
The classification of cities into tiers in India is primarily based on various socio-economic factors such as population size, infrastructure, economic development, and standard of living.
| Category | Population | Characteristics | Examples |
| Tier-I | 1,00,000 and above (8 cities) | Basic to advance in all the sectors like health and infrastructure, business and education, science and technology, etc. | Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru |
| Tier-II | 50,000 to 99,999. | basic to intermediate facilities, growing urbanization, developing infrastructure, and expanding economic opportunities. | Amritsar, Surat, Agra, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Raipur |
| Tier-III | 20,000 to 49,999. | Increasing urban migration, improving infrastructure, emerging economic centers. | Jhansi, Vijayawada, Mathura, Bikaner, Madurai, Roorkee |
| Tier-IV | 10,000 to 19,999 | Developing urban centers, basic infrastructure, local economic activities. | Gangtok, Kalyani, Kapurthala, Datai |
| Tier-V | 5,000 t0 9,999 | ||
| Tier-VI | Less than 5,000 |
Ref: Source
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