February 21, 2022: RBI will launch a new project to make access to coins easier for customers. Read this article to find out more about it.
Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, has become a hugely popular system for retail payments in India. Ever since UPI was launched in the country in 2016, more and more people are using it every single day. Now the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is looking to adopt UPI for another purpose.
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RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said that the Reserve Bank of India will start a pilot project to launch QR code-based coin vending machines. These vending machines will dispense coins to customers through UPI payment instead of using physical banknotes.
The Central Bank Governor believes that this will enhance the ease of access to coins. Unlike cash-based traditional Coin Vending Machines, the QR Code Based Vending Machine would eliminate the need for physical tendering of banknotes and their authentication.
“The Reserve Bank of India will launch a pilot project on QR Code based Coin Vending Machines (QCVM) in 12 cities. These vending machines will dispense coins against debit to the customer’s account using UPI instead of physical tendering of banknotes. This will enhance the ease of accessibility to coins. Based on the learnings from the pilot, guidelines will be issued to banks to promote the distribution of coins using these machines,” Governor Das said.
The project will launch in 12 different cities, however, no information has been released about which cities will be chosen for it. The Governor believes that this initiative will be especially beneficial for tier 2 cities and beyond where the banking presence is not as prevalent.
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