After the success of UPI in the digital payments space, the RBI is now looking at the nationwide launch of a technology platform to enable frictionless credit across sectors, particularly for agriculture and MSME borrowers.

The platform will facilitate consent-based flow of digital information, including land records, from multiple data service providers to lenders.

Based on the experience of the Reserve Bank of India with the pilot of this platform — Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit(PTPFC) — which was launched last year, its nation-wide launch will happen in due course, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said. Hereon, the central bank plans to call the platform ‘Unified Lending Interface’ (ULI).

“Just like UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transformed the payments ecosystem, we expect that ULI will play a similar role in transforming the lending space in India.”

“The ‘new trinity’ of JAM-(Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile)-UPI-ULI will be a revolutionary step forward in India’s digital infrastructure journey,” Das said at the RBI@90 Global Conference on ‘Digital Public Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies’.

“This cuts down the time taken for credit appraisal, especially for smaller and rural borrowers. The ULI architecture has common and standardised APIs (application programming interfaces), designed for a ‘plug and play’ approach to ensure digital access to information from diverse sources. This reduces the complexity of multiple technical integrations. It enables borrowers to get the benefit of seamless delivery of credit and quicker turnaround time without requiring extensive documentation,” he said.

Ajay Rajan, Country Head, Government, Multinational & International Business, Transaction Banking & Knowledge Units at Yes Bank, said, “ULI is set to revolutionise India’s financial landscape. By providing consensual access to financial data, ULI streamlines credit assessments for lenders. When combined with JAM and UPI, it forms a powerful digital trinity. This trio will transform India’s financial ecosystem, enhancing financial inclusion and enabling data-driven lending.”

The PTPFC, developed by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH), seeks to step up digital financial inclusion.

It leverages open APIs and standards to streamline availability of data in a ‘plug and play’ model to enable the frictionless disbursal of credit.

The reduced cost of operations for lenders due to the easy availability of data may help them offer credit at affordable rates, per RBI’s Report on Currency and Finance.