Would the RBI sell UPI data to corporate giants?
According to Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar on Monday, large corporations, including fintech, have requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) how they can obtain the data from the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). It has evolved to become the world’s top-performing real-time payment system. However, no decisions have yet been made.
According to Sankar, who BusinessLine reported, the request was made in connection with a huge NCAER event in Delhi.
This is not surprising given that UPI data could support these organizations in structuring products depending on target segments and consumption. However, Rabi Sankar clarified that the RBI would not entertain such demands until there was clear legislation governing data usage from such sources. We assume he was referring to the data protection law, which the government has just withdrawn and is now due to be reintroduced to Parliament during the Winter Session.
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UPI, introduced by NPCI in 2016, recorded 6.57 billion transactions in August, totaling Rs 10.72 trillion, a record high. The Covid-19 outbreak has boosted the adoption of digital payments, increasing the volume of transactions by 85% and value by 67.85% year-over-year (YoY).
Sankar stated, “We have to check the circumstances subject to which data would be supplied. First of all, the data is not owned by RBI. How the data will be utilized, who will access it, and whether it will be authorized,” when asked if the RBI will agree to corporates’ requests.
According to him, the procedure must be carried out to make the client aware that they have given consent to some extent. According to Sankar, who was quoted by the business daily, “being data rich is a gift in the sense that new services can be developed, but at the same time, being data rich also raises the burden on the government and the regulator.”
The government withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill from the Lok Sabha last month. However, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw later stated that the administration still hoped to approve the new legislation during the upcoming budget session of Congress.
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