Overview
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Foreign Currency Settlement System at GIFT IFSC, enabling local real-time settlement of foreign-currency transactions and placing GIFT City alongside hubs such as Hong Kong, Tokyo and Manila.
- RBI and the Department of Financial Services rolled out UPI Multi‑Signatory for joint approvals, UPI Lite payments via smart glasses, on‑device biometric authentication, Aadhaar‑based face verification for setting UPI PINs, and UPI‑based cash withdrawals at Micro ATM cash points.
- NPCI linked the FX Retail Platform with Bharat Connect (BBPS), allowing retail customers to buy USD through participating banks’ and payment apps with real‑time price discovery.
- To curb impersonation in securities payments, SEBI and NPCI introduced verified UPI handles for registered intermediaries and SEBI launched “SEBI Check” for investors to confirm UPI IDs and bank details before paying.
- RBI said it is building a Digital Payments Intelligence Platform for real‑time fraud detection, issued responsible‑AI guidance, reaffirmed a use‑case‑first CBDC approach, and outlined market‑modernisation work on UMI, ULI, asset tokenisation, UPI HELP, IoT payments, Banking Connect and UPI Reserve Pay.