Mumbai, Jan 4 (TIWN) The Reserve Bank of India on Monday released the framework for facilitating small value digital payments in offline mode, which does not require internet or telecom connectivity.

In a statement on Monday, the RBI said that balance replenishment can, however, only occur in an online mode.  Under this new framework, such payments can be carried out face-to-face (proximity mode) using any channel or instrument like cards, wallets, mobile devices, amongst others. Besides, such transactions would not require an 'Additional Factor of Authentication' (AFA).  Furthermore, since the transactions are offline, alerts will be received by the customer after a time lag. 

The Reserve Bank had, in August 2020, permitted a pilot scheme to encourage technological innovations that enable small value digital transactions in offline mode. Subsequently, pilot testing was undertaken by some entities during the period from September 2020 to July 2021.  "With encouraging feedback from the pilots, it was announced in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory policies dated October 8, 2021, that a framework for carrying out small value digital payments in offline mode across the country would be introduced," it said.