RBI FinTech and Digital Finance: Complete Guide to UPI, CBDC, ULI, SupTech and Regulatory Sandbox

Understand RBI FinTech and digital finance initiatives including UPI, CBDC, ULI, SupTech, Regulatory Sandbox, Account Aggregators, TReDS, digital lending and cross-border payments.

RBI FinTech and Digital Finance: Complete Guide

Financial technology has fundamentally changed the way financial services are delivered. Payments that once required physical branches, paper instruments or lengthy settlement processes can now be initiated almost instantaneously through mobile devices. Credit assessment is increasingly supported by digital information, while regulatory authorities themselves use advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to monitor financial institutions.

The Reserve Bank of India has played an important role in this transformation.

The RBI’s approach to FinTech is not simply about allowing technological innovation. It involves a combination of institution-building, regulation, digital public infrastructure, consumer protection, financial inclusion and supervisory technology.

The 2024 Functions and Working of RBI publication describes FinTech as technologically enabled financial innovation capable of producing new business models, applications, processes or products affecting financial markets, institutions and financial services.

What is FinTech?

FinTech is the combination of:

Finance + Technology

It covers innovations such as:

Digital payments
Mobile banking
Digital lending
Account aggregation
Wealth technology
Insurtech
Blockchain-based solutions
Artificial intelligence
Machine learning
Digital identity
Central Bank Digital Currency

India’s FinTech ecosystem grew alongside increasing smartphone penetration and the emergence of digital-native consumers. The introduction of UPI in 2016 became an important milestone in India’s digital-payment evolution.

RBI’s three-part role in FinTech

The Indian FinTech ecosystem rests on three interacting elements:

1. Digital Public Infrastructure

Examples include:

India Stack
JAM

2. Institutional arrangements

India created institutions capable of supporting digital financial infrastructure.

3. Policy initiatives

RBI has progressively developed regulatory frameworks for new financial technologies.

This is important because India’s FinTech development cannot be understood merely as startup growth. It is also the result of public infrastructure and regulatory architecture.

RBI’s FinTech institution-building

RBI’s involvement with technology began well before the recent FinTech boom.

IDRBT — 1996

The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology was established in 1996.

It played an important role in banking technology and digital transformation.

NPCI — 2008

NPCI emerged as a pivotal institution for retail digital payments.

IFTAS — 2015

IFTAS was established under IDRBT to provide essential IT services to RBI, banks and financial institutions. RBI acquired it in 2019.

ReBIT — 2016

ReBIT strengthened RBI’s IT and cyber resilience.

RBIH — 2022

The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub was established to accelerate innovation across the financial sector.

FinTech Department — 2022

The dedicated FinTech Department came into existence on 4 January 2022.

Payments Banks

RBI introduced regulatory guidelines for Payments Banks in 2014.

The model was designed to support:

Financial inclusion
Digital transactions
Small savings
Payments
Remittances

The critical restriction is:

Payments Banks cannot undertake lending activities.

They can provide payment services and basic banking facilities while leveraging technology to reduce costs.

This makes Payments Banks an important example of regulation designed around a specific technological and inclusion-oriented banking model.

Account Aggregators

RBI introduced regulatory guidelines for Account Aggregators in 2016.

Account Aggregators support consent-based sharing of financial information.

Their significance lies in enabling:

Data portability + consent + standardisation

An AA collects and consolidates financial information from different sources with customer consent and makes it available to authorised entities.

This can improve:

Credit assessment
Access to financial products
Data portability
Personalised financial services

The key principle is therefore not unrestricted data sharing.

It is:

Customer-consented financial-data sharing.

P2P lending

In 2017, RBI introduced regulatory guidelines for Peer-to-Peer lending platforms.

P2P platforms were required to operate as NBFCs and obtain RBI registration.

The framework addresses:

Investor protection
Borrower protection
Transaction limits
Leverage
Credit assessment
Default risk
Transparency

TReDS

TReDS stands for:

Trade Receivables Discounting System

It was developed to address MSMEs’ working-capital and delayed-payment problems.

TReDS is a payment system authorised under the PSS Act.

It facilitates:

Invoice uploading
Acceptance
Discounting
Trading
Settlement

The ecosystem includes MSME sellers, buyers, government entities, banks and permitted financiers.

An important feature is that transactions are without recourse to MSMEs.

RBI Regulatory Sandbox

The Regulatory Sandbox framework was created in 2019.

Its purpose is:

Responsible innovation

Instead of immediately deploying a new financial product at full scale, an eligible entity can test it in a controlled environment.

The regulator may permit limited regulatory relaxations specifically for testing.

The completed thematic cohorts mentioned in the source are:

Retail payments
Cross-border payments
MSME lending
Prevention of financial frauds

A Theme Neutral fifth cohort was announced in October 2023.

The framework also includes:

On-Tap facility

Applications can be submitted for previously closed cohorts.

IoRS

The Interoperable Regulatory Sandbox enables testing of hybrid products/services that fall under more than one financial regulator.

Digital Lending

RBI introduced Digital Lending Guidelines in 2022.

The framework was subsequently refined in 2023.

The objectives include:

Transparency
Consumer protection
Systemic stability
Responsible lending
Fair recovery practices
Better disclosure
Customer awareness

The important conceptual point is that technological convenience cannot eliminate the need for responsible lending.

UPI

The Unified Payments Interface is one of India’s most important FinTech developments.

UPI enables:

Instant transfers
24×7 payments
P2P payments
P2M payments
Virtual payment addresses

RBI has supported several innovations around UPI, including:

UPI123Pay
UPI Lite
RuPay credit-card linkage
Mandate-based payments
Conversational Payments
Payments from pre-sanctioned credit lines

The significance of UPI is therefore broader than merely replacing cash or cards. It creates interoperable digital-payment infrastructure.

Cardless cash withdrawal

RBI permitted interoperable cardless cash withdrawal at ATMs.

Under this facility:

UPI authenticates the customer

and settlement occurs through the relevant ATM network/NFS infrastructure.

Removing the need for a physical card can reduce vulnerabilities such as:

Skimming
Card cloning
Device tampering

CBDC — Digital Rupee

The RBI introduced the CBDC pilot in 2022.

The Digital Rupee is:

Digital form of the rupee
Legal tender
Issued by RBI
Capable of being held as a store of value
Usable for transactions

There are two broad categories.

CBDC-R

Retail CBDC for consumers.

CBDC-W

Wholesale CBDC for institutional financial-market participants.

Retail CBDC use cases

The retail pilot includes:

P2P transactions
P2M transactions
Programmability
Offline functionality

Wholesale CBDC use cases

The wholesale pilot includes:

Secondary G-Sec transactions
Call-money transactions

CBDC and cross-border payments

CBDCs could potentially improve international payments by:

Reducing intermediaries
Lowering remittance costs
Speeding settlement
Providing 24×7 availability
Improving transparency

RBI is exploring bilateral and multilateral approaches, including BIS projects.

Unified Lending Interface

The Unified Lending Interface (ULI) was formerly called:

Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit

The platform was conceptualised by RBI and developed by RBIH.

The PTPFC announcement came on:

10 August 2023

Pilot commenced:

17 August 2023

ULI uses:

Open architecture
Standardised protocols
Open APIs
Plug-and-play connectivity

It enables lenders to access data from multiple sources without creating separate one-to-one integrations with every data provider.

This can reduce:

Documentation
Processing time
Costs
Physical visits

The source reports 16 lenders using 50+ data services and 12 digital loan journeys at the time of publication.

SupTech

SupTech stands for:

Supervisory Technology

The concept is different from FinTech.

FinTech

Technology used to create/improve financial products and services.

SupTech

Technology used by regulators and supervisors.

RBI’s SupTech examples include:

IDPMS
EDPMS
CRILC
Risk-Based Supervision
ASAG
DAKSH
ICMTS
CIMS

These systems use data, analytics, AI and ML to improve supervisory effectiveness.

Cross-border digital payments

RBI has also promoted international interoperability.

UPI-PayNow

India’s UPI and Singapore’s PayNow were linked on:

21 February 2023

This enables instant and low-cost P2P cross-border payments.

Project Nexus

RBI joined Project Nexus to interlink domestic fast-payment systems.

Founding participants include:

India
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand

The source expected the platform to go live in 2026.

UPI QR payment acceptance has also been enabled in:

Bhutan
Singapore
UAE
Mauritius
Sri Lanka

according to the source.

The strategic RBI FinTech framework

RBI’s FinTech approach can be reduced to six objectives:

1. Innovation

RBIH, Sandbox, HaRBInGer.

2. Payments

UPI, cardless withdrawal, cross-border payment linkages.

3. Credit

P2P, TReDS, Digital Lending, ULI.

4. Data

Account Aggregators, ULI, CIMS.

5. Currency

CBDC.

6. Supervision

SupTech, ASAG, DAKSH.

That is the conceptual framework you should retain for exam purposes.

RBI’s Functions and Working — Master Transformation

CHAPTER 22 — DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONS

22.1 RBI’s developmental role

RBI is unusual among central banks because it has historically played an active and direct developmental role.

Its developmental role includes:

Ensuring credit to productive sectors.
Creating institutions required for financial infrastructure.
Expanding access to affordable financial services.
Building specialised financial institutions.
Promoting efficient customer service in banking.
Extending banking services through financial inclusion.
Supporting diversified financial services.

This role was particularly important when India’s financial system and capital markets were underdeveloped.

Exam trigger

RBI developmental role = Credit + Institutions + Access

22.2 Institution-building chronology

This chronology is extremely important.

Year	Institution / Development	Purpose
1962	Deposit Insurance Corporation	Deposit insurance
1963	Agricultural Refinance Corporation	Agricultural refinance
1964	UTI	Channel small savings into stock market
1964	IDBI	Industrial development finance
1971	Credit Guarantee Corporation	Credit guarantee
1978	DICGC	Merger of DIC + CGC
1982	NABARD	Agriculture & rural development
1982	EXIM Bank	Export finance
1987	IGIDR	Economic/development research
1988	NHB	Housing finance
1988	DFHI	Money market development
1990	SIDBI	MSME/Small industry finance
1994	STCI	Secondary G-Sec market
1995	BRBNMPL	Banknote production
1996	IDRBT	Banking technology
2001	CCIL	Clearing & settlement
2008	NPCI	Retail payments
2010	BNPMIPL	Banknote paper
2011	CAFRAL	Financial research/learning
2016	ReBIT	IT & cyber security
2019	IFTAS taken over by RBI	IT-related financial-sector services
2021	NaBFID Act	Infrastructure finance
2022	RBIH	Financial innovation

The dates and institutional purposes above are drawn directly from the chapter.

Memory chain

D-C-D-U → N-E-N-S → R-B-I → I-B-R → C-N → R-I-R

Don’t memorise the letters mechanically. Memorise the institution → purpose pairings.

22.3 Deposit insurance and credit guarantee

Deposit Insurance Corporation — 1962

Established to provide deposit insurance.

Credit Guarantee Corporation — 1971

Established to provide credit guarantees.

DICGC — 1978

The two entities were merged in 1978 to create:

Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC)

The PDF describes DICGC as a wholly owned subsidiary of RBI.

Do not confuse

1962 → DIC
1971 → CGC
1978 → DICGC

22.4 Development Financial Institutions

UTI — 1964

Purpose:

Channel small investors’ savings into the stock market.

IDBI — 1964

Established as an industrial development financial institution and subsequently converted into a universal bank.

Agricultural Refinance Corporation — 1963

Established by RBI to support agricultural refinance.

Its functions were subsequently taken over by NABARD.

NABARD — 1982

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

Role:

Apex institution for agriculture.
Rural development.
Took over functions of Agricultural Refinance Corporation.

EXIM Bank — 1982

Export-Import Bank of India.

Purpose:

Ensure adequate availability of concessional bank credit to exporters.

NHB — 1988

National Housing Bank.

Purpose:

Financial support to housing sector.

SIDBI — 1990

Small Industries Development Bank of India.

Purpose:

Financial support to MSME/small-industry sector.

22.5 NaBFID

NaBFID = National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development

It was established under the NaBFID Act, 2021 as a Development Financial Institution.

Primary purpose:

Support development of long-term infrastructure financing in India.

The PDF states that RBI notified on March 9, 2022 that NaBFID would be regulated and supervised as an All India Financial Institution (AIFI) by RBI under Sections 45L and 45N of the RBI Act, 1934.

Exam distinction

NaBFID → infrastructure finance

Do not mix it with:

NABARD → agriculture/rural development
NHB → housing
SIDBI → MSME
EXIM → exports

22.6 Institutions for research and learning

NIBM — 1969

National Institute of Bank Management

Location:

Pune

Purpose:

Banking management and capacity building.

IIBM — 1980

Indian Institute of Bank Management

Location:

Guwahati

RBI was one of its sponsors.

Purpose:

Capacity building for banks and financial institutions, especially the North-East.

IGIDR — 1987

Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research

Established and fully funded by RBI.
Economic and development research.

IDRBT — 1996

Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology

Banking technology.
Wholly Owned Subsidiary of RBI.

CAFRAL — 2011

Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning

Independent think tank.
Fully funded by RBI.
Research and advanced learning in banking and finance.

Memory hook

N-I-I-I-C

NIBM → IIBM → IGIDR → IDRBT → CAFRAL

22.7 Market institutions

DFHI

Discount and Finance House of India Ltd.

Established:

March 1988

Purpose:

Develop money market.
Provide liquidity to money-market instruments.

STCI

Securities Trading Corporation of India

Established:

May 1994

Purpose:

Develop active secondary market in Government of India securities and PSU bonds.

RBI later divested its stake.

It currently operates as a Middle Layer NBFC under:

STCI Finance Ltd.

Don’t confuse

DFHI → Money market

STCI → Government securities secondary market

22.8 Financial Market Infrastructure

CCIL

Clearing Corporation of India Ltd.

Established:

April 2001

Purpose:

Guaranteed clearing and settlement for:

Money markets
Government securities
Foreign exchange
Derivatives

NPCI

National Payments Corporation of India

Established:

2008

Purpose:

Umbrella organisation for retail payments in India.

Established with guidance/support of:

RBI
Indian Banks’ Association

One-line memory

CCIL = clearing/settlement

NPCI = retail payments

22.9 IT-related institutions

ReBIT

Reserve Bank Information Technology Pvt Ltd.

Established:

2016

Purpose:

RBI IT requirements.
Cyber-security.
Financial-sector IT/cyber research.
IT systems audit/assessment.
RBI IT projects.

IFTAS

Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services

Originally a subsidiary of IDRBT.

RBI took it over in:

2019

Mandate:

Design.
Deploy.
Support IT-related services for RBI, banks and financial institutions.

Don’t confuse

ReBIT → RBI IT/cyber requirements

IFTAS → IT services to RBI/banks/FIs

22.10 Currency-management institutions

BRBNMPL

Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited

Established:

1995

Status:

Wholly owned subsidiary of RBI

Purpose:

Augment banknote production.

Two currency presses:

Mysuru, Karnataka
Salboni, West Bengal

BNPMIPL

Bank Note Paper Mill India Private Limited

Incorporated/registered:

2010

Location:

Mysuru, Karnataka

JV between:

SPMCIL
BRBNMPL

Purpose:

Banknote paper production.

Capacity mentioned:

12,000 TPA

22.11 Financial education

NCFE

National Centre for Financial Education

Legal form:

Section 8, not-for-profit company

Jointly promoted by:

RBI
SEBI
IRDAI
PFRDA

Vision:

Financially aware and empowered India.

Objectives include:

Financial education across India.
Awareness campaigns.
Workshops/seminars/training.
Financial-literacy material.
Improving financial knowledge, understanding, skills and competence.

Four-regulator mnemonic

R-S-I-P

RBI – SEBI – IRDAI – PFRDA

22.12 RBI Innovation Hub

RBIH

Reserve Bank Innovation Hub

Established:

2022

Status:

Wholly owned subsidiary of RBI

Purpose:

Accelerate financial-sector innovation.
Promote suitable and sustainable financial products.
Build internal applied-research capabilities.
Work with financial institutions, policymakers, technology industry and academia.
Develop prototypes for financial innovation.

Core distinction

RBIH = innovation

ReBIT = IT/cyber

IFTAS = IT services

IDRBT = banking technology research

CHAPTER 23 — RESEARCH, SURVEYS AND DATA DISSEMINATION

23.1 Why RBI needs research and data

Modern central banking depends heavily on:

Timely data
Relevant data
Reliable data
Analytical research

RBI’s research covers:

Macroeconomic forecasting
Monetary policy
Monetary transmission
Financial stability
Information management
Big-data analytics
New analytical techniques

RBI disseminates research to improve transparency and credibility.

23.2 Major RBI research publications

RBI disseminates employee research through:

RBI Bulletin
RBI Occasional Papers
RBI Working Paper Series

Development Research Group

DRG studies involve collaboration between:

External experts
RBI staff

Purpose:

Generate constructive dialogue among:

Professional economists
Policymakers

23.3 Statutory/major reports

Monetary Policy documents

RBI releases:

MPC resolutions
MPC minutes
Monetary Policy Reports

The PDF associates these with:

Section 45-ZK
Section 45-ZL
Section 45-ZM

respectively.

Annual Report

Legal basis:

Section 53(2), RBI Act, 1934

Provides detailed account of:

RBI’s working
RBI’s operations

Submitted to:

Central Government

Trend and Progress of Banking in India

Legal basis:

Section 36(2), Banking Regulation Act, 1949

Covers:

Scheduled Commercial Banks
Co-operative Banks
NBFCs

Financial Stability Report

Provides:

Overall assessment of Indian financial-system stability.
Resilience against global/domestic risks.
Financial-sector development and regulation issues.

High-yield distinction

Annual Report → RBI itself

Trend & Progress → banking system

FSR → financial-system stability

23.4 Data dissemination

RBI receives huge volumes of information through:

Regulatory returns
Supervisory returns
Transactions
Other processes

Because data is a public-policy asset, RBI disseminates appropriately aggregated data while protecting:

Commercial confidentiality
Statutory restrictions
Sensitive information

23.5 DSIM

Department of Statistics and Information Management

Responsibilities:

Compile macroeconomic statistics.
Disseminate financial statistics.
Banking statistics.
Monetary statistics.
Corporate statistics.
External-sector statistics.
Conduct surveys.
Information management.
Applied research.

It maintains the:

DBIE

Database on Indian Economy

DBIE is RBI’s centralised database and public data-distribution platform.

It also disseminates selected data produced by other government agencies, such as:

National accounts
Price indices

The portal supports SDMX-based query functions.

Memory

DSIM = Data compiler + Survey department + Information manager

DBIE = Data access platform

23.6 Major statistical publications

RBI Bulletin

Frequency:

Monthly

Contains:

Articles
Speeches
Statistics
RBI balance sheet
Money and banking
Public finance
Financial markets
External sector

Statistics portion:

around 50 tables

Weekly Statistical Supplement — WSS

Frequency:

Weekly

Contains:

14 tables

High-frequency information on:

RBI balance sheet
Monetary statistics
Reserve position
Commercial bank balance sheets
Key rates

Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy

Frequency:

Annual

Approximately:

240 tables

Serves as a single reference for macroeconomic time-series data.

Handbook of Statistics on Indian States

Contains:

Socio-demographics
Health
State domestic product
Agriculture
Environment
Prices/wages
Industry
Infrastructure
Banking
Fiscal indicators

Data spans various periods beginning from 1951 and contains 150+ tables.

State Finances: A Study of Budgets

Focus:

Fiscal position of State Governments

Fast recall

Bulletin = Monthly

WSS = Weekly

Handbook = Annual

23.7 Monetary statistics

RBI has compiled monetary statistics since:

July 1935

They are based on a balance-sheet framework using data from:

Banking sector
Postal authorities

Important methodological milestones:

Year	Group
1961	First Working Group on Money Supply
1977	Second Working Group
1998	Working Group on Money Supply: Analytics and Methodology of Compilation
Chairman	Dr. Y.V. Reddy

23.8 Banking statistics

Section 42(2), RBI Act

Every Scheduled Bank is required to furnish a fortnightly return showing major assets and liabilities in India.

It is submitted at the close of business on:

Reporting Fridays

System-level banking aggregates are therefore released fortnightly.

23.9 Statistical Tables Relating to Banks in India

This is particularly important.

It is based on annual accounts of SCBs.

It provides:

Bank-level data

Whereas many other RBI publications provide:

System-level data
Bank-group-level data

Exam trap

Statistical Tables Relating to Banks in India → bank-level data

23.10 BSR system

Basic Statistical Returns

Established:

December 1972

Following recommendations of:

Committee on Banking Statistics

It evolved from:

Uniform Balance Book (UBB) system.

Purpose:

Granular information about bank credit, including:

Account type
Organisation
Borrower occupation/activity
District
Population group
Interest rate
Credit limit
Outstanding amount

23.11 BSR-1 vs BSR-2

	BSR-1	BSR-2
Focus	Credit	Deposits
Data	Credit characteristics	Deposit characteristics
Frequency	Annual + quarterly	Annual + quarterly
Branch-wise?	Credit dimensions	Deposit dimensions

Annual BSR-2 contains information such as:

Deposit type
Institutional-sector ownership
Age-wise distribution of individual deposits
Term-deposit maturity
Size and interest-rate classification
Employees

23.12 International Banking Statistics

The IBS system collects information on international claims and liabilities of banks.

It is coordinated by:

BIS

Examples of liabilities:

Non-resident deposits
Foreign-currency borrowings
International bonds issued by banks

Examples of claims:

Loans to non-residents
Foreign-currency loans to residents
Foreign currency in hand
Overseas investments

23.13 CISBI

Central Information System for Banking Infrastructure

Operationalised:

June 2019

Replaced:

Master Office File (MOF)

Covers:

Commercial banks
Co-operative banks
ATMs
Fixed-location BCs

It provides:

Banking outlet information
BSR codes
Mapping of BSR, IFSC and MICR
Branch-location information

Don’t confuse

CISBI → banking infrastructure

DBIE → economic/statistical data

23.14 External-sector statistics

RBI compiles:

Balance of Payments
International trade in services
External debt
Foreign investment inflows
NRI deposits
International Investment Position
Forex reserves

Methodological framework:

IMF BPM6

23.15 FETERS

Foreign Exchange Transactions Electronic Reporting System

Collects purpose-wise foreign-exchange transaction information from:

Authorised Dealers

Used for:

Balance of Payments statistics

The newer FETERS-Cards return captures information relating to:

Credit cards
Debit cards
UPI
Merchant Category Code

23.16 FLA / FLAIR

Annual Census on Foreign Liabilities and Assets

Notified under:

FEMA 1999

From:

2011

Applicable to Indian-resident entities with:

FDI received and/or
ODI made

It contributes to:

IMF CDIS
CPIS
BoP
IIP
FATS

Reporting platform:

FLAIR — Foreign Liabilities and Assets Information Reporting

23.17 RBI surveys — must know

Survey	Since	Main purpose
SPF	2007	Professional forecasts
IOS	1998	Manufacturing outlook
OBICUS	2008	Orders, inventories, capacity utilisation
IESH	2005	Household inflation expectations
CCS	2010	Consumer confidence
Services & Infrastructure Outlook Survey	2014	Business outlook
BLS	Current framework	Bank lending/credit conditions

23.18 Survey of Professional Forecasters — SPF

Started:

September 2007

Panelists provide annual and quarterly forecasts for around:

20 key macroeconomic indicators

Including:

Growth
Inflation
Banking indicators
External-sector variables

23.19 Industrial Outlook Survey — IOS

Started:

1998

Frequency:

Quarterly

Target:

Manufacturing companies.

Measures:

Demand conditions
Financial conditions
Employment
Prices

It also captures outlook for subsequent quarters on selected parameters since 2020–21.

23.20 OBICUS

Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilization Survey

Started:

2008

Frequency:

Quarterly

Purpose:

Fill data gaps regarding:

Capacity utilisation
Order books
Inventories

It produces estimates of:

Capacity Utilisation (CU)

23.21 Inflation Expectations Survey of Households — IESH

Started:

September 2005

Captures expected price changes over:

3 months
1 year

It covers expectations regarding:

General prices
Food
Non-food
Household durables
Housing
Services

Sample:

6,100 households

in:

19 cities

Frequency aligned with:

Bi-monthly monetary policy

23.22 Consumer Confidence Survey — CCS

Started:

2010

Measures perceptions regarding:

General economic situation
Prices
Employment
Financial situation
Income
Spending

Sample:

6,100 households

in:

19 cities

Frequency:

Bi-monthly monetary-policy cycle

Important comparison

IESH → inflation expectations

CCS → consumer confidence

Both:

6,100 households + 19 cities

23.23 Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey

Started:

2014

Frequency:

Quarterly

Covers companies in:

Services
Infrastructure

Captures:

Demand
Prices
Business conditions

23.24 Bank Lending Survey — BLS

Earlier called:

Credit Conditions Survey (CrCS)

It is forward-looking and captures:

Loan demand
Loan terms and conditions
Major economic-sector credit conditions

Coverage:

Top 30 SCBs

These cover more than:

90% of SCB outstanding credit

RRBs excluded.

23.25 Ad-hoc surveys

The PDF mentions surveys including:

Indian Start-up Sector pilot survey.
Sectoral variation of cash transactions.
Survey on Retail Payment Habits of Individuals — SRPHi.
Pilot survey on AI/ML applications in banks and NBFCs.
Follow-up survey on AI/ML applications.

23.26 Alternative data

RBI also uses non-traditional data.

OMFPI

Organised Market Food Price Index

Compiled:

Monthly

Purpose:

Provide advance information about consumer prices for inflation analysis and policy.

RBI also collects:

online job-posting data

to generate labour-market statistics useful for policymaking.

23.27 House Price Index — HPI

Frequency:

Quarterly

Base:

2010–11 = 100

Coverage:

All-India + 10 major cities.

Formula:

Laspeyres Price Index

Data:

Transaction-level data from registration authorities.

Dissemination lag:

2 months

23.28 Banking Services Price Index — BkSPI

Two broad categories:

Direct services
- Fees
- Commissions
- Brokerage
FISIM
- Financial intermediation services indirectly measured.

Current base year:

2017–18

Frequency:

Monthly

Formula:

Laspeyres

23.29 Data Science and research

RBI’s DSIM uses:

Forecasting
Nowcasting
Big-data analytics
AI
ML
Media sentiment analysis

Data Science Lab — DSL

Purpose:

Harness big data.
Surveillance.
Domain-specific early-warning detection.

Granular Data Access Lab — GDAL

Being set up under:

CIMS

Purpose:

Access micro-level data for research.

23.30 International data coordination

RBI manages the:

SAARCFINANCE Database

Hosted through:

DBIE

Data:

Sector-wise
Frequency-wise
National currencies
US dollar

RBI also reports around:

175 data series

to the BIS at different frequencies.

RBI cooperates with:

including implementation of the:

G20 Data Gaps Initiative (DGI).

CHAPTER 24 — FINTECH AND RBI

24.1 What is FinTech?

FinTech means:

Financial Technology

The PDF uses the FSB definition centred on:

Technologically enabled financial innovation affecting financial markets, institutions and financial-service provision.

In simple terms:

Finance + Technology → innovative financial services

24.2 Evolution of Indian FinTech

Key stages:

Early 2000s → digital payments/mobile banking

↓

Smartphone penetration

↓

Digital-native consumers

↓

FinTech startups in:

Digital lending
Wealth management
Insurtech
Blockchain

↓

UPI — 2016

The PDF describes India as the world’s third-largest FinTech ecosystem by number of entities and gives an adoption rate of 87%, compared with a global average of 67%; it also gives a projected market size of USD 150 billion by 2025 from USD 50 billion in 2021. These are the figures in the 2024 edition and should be treated as source-dated figures.

24.3 Three foundations of Indian FinTech

The PDF identifies the interaction of:

1. Digital Public Infrastructure

Examples:

India Stack
JAM

2. Institutional arrangements

3. Policy initiatives

Memory

D-I-P

Digital infrastructure + Institutions + Policy

24.4 RBI institution-building for FinTech

Year	Institution	Key role
1996	IDRBT	Banking technology
2008	NPCI	Retail digital payments
2015	IFTAS under IDRBT	IT services
2016	ReBIT	Cyber/IT
2022	RBIH	Innovation
2022	FinTech Department	Dedicated RBI department

The FinTech Department became operational on:

4 January 2022

24.5 RBI FinTech policy chronology

2014 — Payments Banks

Objectives:

Financial inclusion
Digital transactions
Small savings
Payments/remittances

Important restriction:

Payments Banks cannot undertake lending.

2016 — Account Aggregators

Purpose:

Consent-based financial-data sharing.
Data portability.
Better credit assessment.
Customized financial products.

AAs act as:

Consent managers/intermediaries

They collect and consolidate financial information with customer consent.

PPIs — Prepaid Payment Instruments

RBI framework addresses:

Digital wallets
Prepaid cards
Other electronic payment instruments

Focus:

Interoperability
Consumer protection
Grievance redress
KYC
Escrow
Reporting

24.6 P2P lending — 2017

RBI introduced regulatory framework for:

Peer-to-Peer lending platforms

They are required to operate as:

NBFCs

and obtain RBI registration.

The framework addresses:

Investor protection
Borrower protection
Transaction limits
Leverage
Credit assessment
Systemic risk

24.7 TReDS — 2018

Trade Receivables Discounting System

Purpose:

Address MSME liquidity problems.

TReDS is a:

payment system authorised under the PSS Act.

It facilitates:

Uploading invoices
Acceptance
Discounting
Trading
Settlement

Participants include:

MSME sellers
Buyers
Government departments/PSUs
Banks
NBFC-Factors
Permitted financial institutions

Transactions are:

without recourse to MSMEs.

24.8 Regulatory Sandbox — 2019

Purpose:

Responsible innovation

Eligible entities can live-test innovative products/services in a controlled environment.

Regulators may permit limited regulatory relaxations for testing.

Themes completed:

Retail payments
Cross-border payments
MSME lending
Prevention of financial frauds

A fifth:

Theme Neutral

was announced in:

October 2023

Other features:

On-Tap facility

Applications may be made for previously closed cohorts.

IoRS

Interoperable Regulatory Sandbox

For hybrid products/services falling under multiple financial regulators.

Memory

4 cohorts + Neutral + On-Tap + IoRS

24.9 Digital Lending Guidelines

Introduced:

2022

Further refined:

2023

Objectives:

Transparency
Consumer protection
Systemic stability
Responsible lending
Better disclosures
Stronger recovery norms
Customer awareness

24.10 HaRBInGer

RBI’s global hackathon:

HaRBInGer

First launched:

2021

Purpose:

Find innovative technological solutions to financial-sector challenges.

In 2023, RBI and BIS Innovation Hub jointly launched the:

fourth G20 TechSprint

under India’s G20 Presidency.

Theme:

Technology solutions for cross-border payments.

24.11 SRO-FT

RBI released the framework for:

Self-Regulatory Organisations for FinTech Sector (SRO-FT)

Date:

30 May 2024

Purpose:

Balance:

Innovation ↔ Regulatory compliance ↔ Consumer protection

24.12 UPI

UPI is a smartphone-based electronic payment system.

Important characteristics:

Virtual payment address
Instant transfers
24×7
P2P
P2M
Safety/security

The PDF describes UPI as the largest retail payment system in terms of transaction volume.

Additional innovations include:

UPI123Pay
UPI Lite
RuPay credit-card linkage
Mandates
Conversational Payments
Payments from pre-sanctioned credit lines

24.13 ICCW

Interoperable Card-less Cash Withdrawal

Uses:

UPI for customer authentication

Settlement occurs through:

National Financial Switch
ATM networks

Benefit:

Reduces vulnerabilities associated with:

Skimming
Card cloning
Device tampering

24.14 Interoperable internet-banking payment system

Problem:

Internet-banking transactions through payment aggregators were not interoperable.

RBI approved an interoperable system for internet-banking transactions to:

NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. (NBBL)

Purpose:

Quicker merchant settlement.

24.15 RBI adoption of FinTech

RBI itself uses FinTech for:

CBDC
Unified Lending Interface
SupTech

These improve:

Inclusion
Efficiency
Credit delivery
Supervision
Data analysis

24.16 CBDC

Central Bank Digital Currency

Pilot introduced:

2022

Digital Rupee is:

Digital form of Indian currency.
Legal tender.
Issued by RBI.
Can function as store of value and means of transaction.

Two forms:

CBDC-W

Wholesale

For institutional/financial-market participants.

CBDC-R

Retail

Risk-free digital medium of exchange for retail users.

Pilot use cases

CBDC-R:

P2P
P2M
Programmability
Offline functionality

CBDC-W:

Secondary G-Sec transactions
Call-money transactions

Cross-border potential

Potential benefits:

Lower remittance costs
Fewer intermediaries
Faster settlement
24×7 availability
Better payment-status transparency

RBI is exploring:

Bilateral partnerships
Multilateral BIS projects

24.17 ULI

Unified Lending Interface

Former name:

Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit — PTPFC

Conceptualised by:

RBI

Developed by:

RBIH

PTPFC announced:

10 August 2023

Pilot:

17 August 2023

How ULI works

ULI provides:

Open architecture
Standardised protocols
Open APIs
Plug-and-play connectivity
Access to multiple data providers

Instead of every lender integrating separately with every data provider, lenders connect to the platform once.

This reduces:

Documentation
Time
Cost
Physical visits

The PDF states that at the time of publication:

16 lenders
50+ data services
12 digital loan journeys

were involved.

Loan journeys include:

KCC
Digital cattle
MSME unsecured
Housing
Personal
Tractor
Micro-business
Vehicle
Digital gold
e-Mudra
Pension
Dairy maintenance

ULI architecture

Data providers → ULI → lenders → credit decision

Initially:

B2B

Proposed later stage:

B2C

24.18 SupTech

SupTech = Supervisory Technology

Uses:

Data analytics
AI
ML

to:

Analyse financial data.
Detect anomalies.
Identify risks.
Strengthen supervision.

Examples mentioned:

IDPMS
EDPMS
CRILC
Risk-Based Supervision
ASAG
DAKSH
ICMTS
CIMS

Critical distinction

FinTech → technology used by financial service providers

SupTech → technology used by supervisors/regulators

24.19 Cross-border payments

Project Nexus

RBI joined:

Project Nexus

Purpose:

Interlink domestic:

Fast Payment Systems (FPS)

Founding countries mentioned:

India
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand

The PDF says the platform was expected to go live in:

2026

UPI-PayNow

India’s UPI and Singapore’s PayNow were operationally linked:

21 February 2023

Purpose:

Instant, low-cost cross-border P2P payments.

UPI QR acceptance was enabled in:

Bhutan
Singapore
UAE

Later:

Mauritius — February 2024
Sri Lanka — February 2024

CHAPTER 25 — INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

25.1 Why international relations matter for RBI

Global integration has increased through:

International trade
Global value chains
Cross-border finance

This has increased:

Global financial interconnectedness

Benefits:

Greater capital flows
Global regulatory standards

Risks:

Contagion
Financial instability
Cross-border transmission of shocks

25.2 International financial architecture — chronology

1930

BIS

1944

Bretton Woods Conference

→ IMF
→ World Bank

1947

GATT

→ later evolved into WTO

1999

G20

2009

FSB

1998

SAARCFINANCE

These dates form one of the most useful chronology chains in Chapter 25.

25.3 G20

G20 originated in:

1999

Initially:

19 countries + EU

Created as a forum for:

Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors

after the Asian Financial Crisis.

The PDF states members represented approximately:

85% of global GDP
75% of global trade
~two-thirds of world population

African Union was included during India’s G20 Presidency in:

2023

25.4 G20 after the Global Financial Crisis

Following the GFC:

Participation elevated to Heads of State/Government.
In 2009, G20 became the premier forum for international economic cooperation.

Its agenda expanded to:

Trade
Sustainable development
Health
Agriculture
Energy
Environment
Climate change
Anti-corruption

25.5 G20 two-track structure

Finance Track

Led by:

Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors — FMCBG

Deals with:

Global economic outlook
Global risks
Financial architecture
Infrastructure finance
Sustainable finance
Financial inclusion
Financial-sector reforms

Sherpa Track

Led by:

Sherpas

Deals with:

Agriculture
Trade
Health
Environment
Climate
Technology
Other broader policy areas

Memory

Finance Track = money

Sherpa Track = broader policy

25.6 India’s G20 Presidency

India took over from Indonesia:

1 December 2022

Theme:

One Earth, One Family, One Future

Based on:

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam

The Presidency involved:

200+ meetings
60 Indian cities
All 28 States
8 Union Territories

The New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Declaration was adopted unanimously on the first day of the Summit.

25.7 RBI’s G20 work

Major areas included:

Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion

Focus:

Digital Public Infrastructure
Digital financial inclusion
SME finance
Financial literacy
Consumer protection

International Financial Architecture

Focus:

CBDCs
Sustainable capital flows
Global financial safety net

Financial-sector regulation

Focus:

Crypto-assets
Stablecoins
DeFi
BigTech/FinTech third-party risk
Cyber resilience
Cross-border payments

25.8 G20 Working Groups

Framework Working Group — FWG

Co-chaired by:

India

Focus:

Global macroeconomic issues
Global risks
Policy coordination
Strong, Sustainable, Balanced and Inclusive Growth

International Financial Architecture Working Group — IFA WG

Focus:

Global financial safety net
Development finance
Debt vulnerabilities
Debt transparency
Capital-flow management
Local-currency bond markets

Sustainable Finance Working Group — SFWG

Focus:

Sustainable finance agenda

Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion — GPFI

Co-chaired by:

India

Focus:

Financial inclusion
Digital infrastructure
Remittances
Financial literacy
Consumer protection
Digital divide

Financial Sector Issues — FSI

Important:

There is no formal Finance Track working group on FSI.

It is discussed at:

FCBD
FMCBG

Topics include:

Financial resilience
Prudential oversight
Cross-border payments
NBFI vulnerabilities
Climate risks
Crypto-assets

25.9 IMF

Established:

1944

by:

44 countries, including India

Membership according to the PDF:

190 countries

Core functions:

Economic/financial surveillance.
Financial assistance to countries with BoP pressures.
Technical assistance and training.

25.10 IMF Article IV

Under:

Article IV of IMF Articles of Agreement

IMF monitors:

Exchange-rate policies
Monetary policy
Fiscal policy
Financial policy
Structural reforms

Typically involves annual discussions with:

Government
Central bank

25.11 FSAP

Financial Sector Assessment Program

Established:

1999

Purpose:

Assess:

Financial-sector resilience
Regulatory framework
Supervisory framework
Crisis-management capacity

It assesses compliance with international standards including:

Basel Core Principles
CPMI-IOSCO principles
IAIS Insurance Core Principles

The PDF states:

32 systemically important jurisdictions → FSAP every 5 years.
Another 15 → mandatory every 10 years.

India is among the 32.

India’s FSAP exercises:

2011
2017
Third assessment ongoing in 2024 according to the source.

25.12 IMFC

International Monetary and Financial Committee

Role:

Advises/reports to IMF Board of Governors regarding:

International monetary system
International financial system
Responses to global disruptions

Usually meets:

Twice a year

at:

IMF/WB Annual Meetings
Spring Meetings

25.13 BIS

Established:

1930

Context:

Young Plan / Hague Conference

Original role:

Facilitate settlement of German reparations.

Later evolved into:

Forum for central-bank cooperation

Areas:

Reserve management
FX
International payments
Gold
Swap facilities
Central-bank cooperation

25.14 BIS meetings

Three principal bimonthly meetings:

Global Economy Meeting — GEM
Economic Consultative Committee — ECC
All Governors’ Meeting

They monitor:

World economy
Global financial system
Risks
Opportunities

25.15 RBI and BIS

RBI became a BIS member:

9 September 1996

In:

2015

Dr Raghuram Rajan became the first Indian elected:

Vice-Chairman of BIS Board of Directors

Other BIS-related channels include:

GHOS
Emerging Markets Governors
Asian Consultative Council
CGFS
CPMI
Markets Committee
Central Bank Governance Group
Irving Fisher Committee

25.16 FSB

Financial Stability Board

Established:

2009

Successor to:

Financial Stability Forum — FSF

FSB is mandated by:

G20

Purpose:

International financial stability.
Coordination among national authorities.
Global regulatory standards.
Supervisory cooperation.
Implementation monitoring.

25.17 FSB structure

Plenary

Sole decision-making body

Steering Committee

Operational work between Plenary meetings.

Standing Committees

SCAV — Standing Committee on Assessment of Vulnerabilities
SRC — Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation
SCSI — Standing Committee on Standards Implementation
SCBR — Standing Committee on Budget and Resources

Regional Consultative Groups

RCGs

Expand/formalise outreach beyond FSB membership.

Memory

V-C-I-B

Vulnerability → Cooperation → Standards → Budget

25.18 FSB contemporary agenda

Major areas include:

FinTech
AI in finance
Resolution reforms
Climate change
Cross-border payments
Crypto-assets
Global stablecoins
Cyber threats
NBFI

25.19 FSB peer review of India

FSB conducts:

quinquennial country peer reviews

India was reviewed in:

2016

Topics:

Macroprudential policy framework.
Regulation and supervision of NBFCs and HFCs.

Next peer review according to the PDF:

2026

25.20 SAARCFINANCE

Established:

1998

Under:

SAARC

Structure:

Network of:

Central-bank governors
Finance secretaries

Purpose:

Macroeconomic dialogue
Experience sharing
Regional cooperation

25.21 SAARCFINANCE major areas

Currency swap arrangement
Capacity building
SF Database
Financial inclusion

25.22 SAARC Currency Swap Arrangement

Framework established:

November 2012

Purpose:

Backstop funding for:

Short-term forex liquidity
Balance-of-payments needs

Overall corpus:

USD 2 billion

Currencies:

US dollar
Euro
Indian rupee

The PDF states aggregate swap support of:

US$6.1 billion

had been provided to member countries, with:

Sri Lanka → US$3.8bn
Bhutan → US$1.6bn
Maldives → US$0.7bn

During COVID-19, aggregate support of:

US$2 billion

was provided to Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

25.23 SAARCFINANCE Database

Launched:

26 May 2016

Location:

Mumbai

Database contains:

136 variables

Includes:

Socioeconomic variables
Intra-SAARC trade variables

Frequencies:

Monthly
Quarterly
Annual

Later restructured into:

CIMS

25.24 SAARCFINANCE capacity building

RBI provides:

Training
Technical assistance
Exposure visits
Study tours
Workshops
Internships
Secondments

Scholarship scheme

Introduced:

2013

Offers:

4 scholarships per year

Areas include:

Economics
Banking
Finance
Statistics
Mathematics
Management

25.25 SAARCFINANCE Sync

Inaugurated:

4 November 2020

Purpose:

Closed-user communication platform for SAARC central banks.

It supports:

Communication
Collaboration
Workstream coordination
Financial-inclusion information

Developed with:

ReBIT
IFTAS

25.26 Financial Inclusion Learning Series — FILS

Proposed:

14 June 2024

at:

45th SFGGM

Inaugural session:

21 August 2024

Topics:

Consumer protection
Digitalisation
Ombudsman
Cybersecurity
Financial inclusion

25.27 India as SAARCFINANCE Chair

RBI took over SF Chair:

October 2019

Extended until:

March 2021

due to COVID-19.

Major initiatives included:

SF Sync
Revised scholarship scheme
Technical support
Database standardisation
FinTech and Financial Inclusion collaborative study
SF e-Newsletter
SupTech/cybersecurity discussions

25.28 BRICS

Formation

BRIC

Formalised:

September 2006

Members:

Brazil
Russia
India
China

South Africa joined:

September 2010

→ BRICS

Additional members according to the PDF:

Iran
Egypt
Ethiopia
UAE

joined:

1 January 2024

25.29 BRICS financial cooperation

Finance Ministers of BRIC countries first met:

2009

Focus:

GFC causes
International financial institutions
Global governance
Policy responses

25.30 BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement

Established through agreement at:

6th BRICS Summit, Fortaleza — 2014

Came into force:

July 2015

Purpose:

Short-term liquidity / BoP support.

Total committed resources:

US$100 billion

Mechanism:

USD-based swap mechanism

Governance:

Governing Council
Standing Committee

Important:

According to the PDF, no swap support had been availed under CRA so far, although test runs had been conducted.

Since December 2017:

7 test runs

had been conducted.

25.31 BRICS Working Groups

Mentioned in the PDF:

BRICS Payment Task Force
BRICS Information Security Council
Transition Finance
FinTech

India chaired BRICS:

2016
2021

25.32 SARTTAC

South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center

Inaugurated:

13 February 2017

Location:

New Delhi

Collaborative venture involving:

IMF
Member countries
Development partners

Purpose:

Strengthen institutional/human capacity for:

Macroeconomic policy
Financial policy
Statistics
Policy design

Member countries listed in the PDF:

Bangladesh
Bhutan
India
Maldives
Nepal
Sri Lanka

25.33 SEACEN Centre

South East Asian Central Banks Research and Training Centre

Established as a legal entity:

1982

Focus areas:

Macroeconomic and monetary policy management
Financial stability, supervision and payment/settlement systems
Leadership and governance

RBI was holding the:

2024 Chair

according to the source.

25.34 Bilateral engagements

RBI’s International Department is also responsible for bilateral engagements.

Objectives:

Understand other countries’ positions.
Exchange capacity-building practices.
Support India’s bilateral negotiations.
Develop MoUs/Terms of Engagement.

25.35 India-US and India-UK

India-US Economic and Financial Partnership — EFP

India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue — EFD

These are:

Ministerial-level bilateral forums

RBI participates along with Ministry of Finance.

The International Department assists in:

Agenda formulation
Briefs
Inputs
Joint statements

25.36 India-Nepal JTCC

Joint Technical Coordination Committee

Between:

RBI + Nepal Rastra Bank

Permanent committee.

Chaired by:

Executive Directors of both sides

International Department:

Secretariat
Coordinates RBI departments
Training
Visits
Collaborative studies

In 2024, Terms of Engagement on HR cooperation were signed.

25.37 India-Japan Senior Level Dialogue

With:

Bank of Japan

Terms of Engagement:

4 November 2019

Annual dialogue.

Purpose:

Deepen relations.
Exchange information.
Central-banking cooperation.
Discuss macroeconomic and financial-market developments.

25.38 Bilateral trade negotiations

RBI supports Government of India through comments/inputs on:

India-EU FTA
India-UK FTA
Other bilateral trade negotiations.

25.39 Other MoUs / engagements

The PDF notes:

2022: MoU with Bank Indonesia.
2024: ToE with National Bank of Kyrgyz Republic.

RBI also conducts:

Bilateral central-bank meetings
Study visits
Attachments
Technical assistance
Knowledge exchange

It prepares:

Country Profiles

for major economies for use by RBI top management.

MASTER MEMORY ARCHITECTURE — CHAPTERS 22–25

Chapter 22: Institutions

Think:

BUILD

Banking/financial infrastructure
Universal access
Institution creation
Learning/research
Digital innovation

Chapter 23: Data

Think:

DATA → SURVEY → ANALYSE → DISSEMINATE

DSIM → DBIE → Surveys → Statistics → Policy

Chapter 24: FinTech

Think:

PAY → SHARE → LEND → TEST → DIGITISE → SUPERVISE

Payments Banks
Account Aggregators
P2P
TReDS
Regulatory Sandbox
Digital Lending
UPI
CBDC
ULI
SupTech

Chapter 25: International

Think:

G20 → IMF → BIS → FSB → SAARC → BRICS → CAPACITY → BILATERAL

This is the chapter’s structural skeleton.

ULTRA-HIGH-YIELD CHRONOLOGY

Memorise this sequence cold:

Institution building

1962 DIC
→ 1963 ARC
→ 1964 UTI + IDBI
→ 1971 CGC
→ 1978 DICGC
→ 1982 NABARD + EXIM
→ 1987 IGIDR
→ 1988 NHB + DFHI
→ 1990 SIDBI
→ 1994 STCI
→ 1995 BRBNMPL
→ 1996 IDRBT
→ 2001 CCIL
→ 2008 NPCI
→ 2010 BNPMIPL
→ 2011 CAFRAL
→ 2016 ReBIT
→ 2019 IFTAS to RBI
→ 2022 RBIH

FinTech

2014 Payments Banks
→ 2016 AA
→ 2017 P2P
→ 2018 TReDS
→ 2019 Sandbox
→ 2021 HaRBInGer
→ 2022 CBDC + Digital Lending framework
→ 2023 ULI/PTPFC pilot + Theme Neutral Sandbox + UPI developments
→ 2024 SRO-FT

International architecture

1930 BIS
→ 1944 IMF/WB
→ 1947 GATT
→ 1998 SAARCFINANCE
→ 1999 G20
→ 2009 FSB
→ 2012 SAARC Swap
→ 2014 BRICS CRA
→ 2015 CRA operational
→ 2016 SF Database
→ 2017 SARTTAC
→ 2020 SF Sync
→ 2023 UPI-PayNow
→ 2024 FILS / expanded BRICS membership

FINAL “DO NOT CONFUSE” TABLE

Don’t confuse	Correct distinction
NABARD	Agriculture & rural development
NHB	Housing
SIDBI	MSME/small industry
EXIM Bank	Export finance
NaBFID	Infrastructure finance
DFHI	Money market
STCI	G-Sec secondary market
CCIL	Clearing & settlement
NPCI	Retail payments
ReBIT	RBI IT/cyber
IFTAS	IT services for RBI/banks/FIs
IDRBT	Banking technology
RBIH	Innovation
DIC	1962
CGC	1971
DICGC	1978
DBIE	Data dissemination/database
DSIM	Statistics & information management
BSR-1	Credit
BSR-2	Deposits
FETERS	FX transaction reporting
FLAIR	Foreign liabilities/assets reporting
SPF	Professional forecasts
IOS	Manufacturing outlook
OBICUS	Orders/inventories/capacity
IESH	Inflation expectations
CCS	Consumer confidence
BLS	Bank lending
FinTech	Financial-sector technology/innovation
SupTech	Regulatory/supervisory technology
CBDC-W	Wholesale
CBDC-R	Retail
ULI	Frictionless credit infrastructure
G20 Finance Track	Economic/financial issues
G20 Sherpa Track	Broader policy agenda
IMF	Surveillance + lending + technical assistance
BIS	Central-bank cooperation
FSB	Global financial stability/regulatory coordination
SAARCFINANCE	South Asian central-bank/finance cooperation
BRICS CRA	Mutual liquidity/BoP support
SARTTAC	IMF South Asia training/technical assistance
SEACEN	Central-bank research/training