RBI to launch Unified Lending Interface to transform lending space

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das said that the central bank was set to launch Unified Lending Interface (ULI) nationwide soon as it expects this platform to transform the lending sector in India.

The pilot for ULI was launched last year by RBI to enable frictionless credit. After this, the RBI has decided to launch ULI nationwide.

Shaktikanta Das said, “Just like UPI 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-UPI-ULI will be a revolutionary step forward in India’s digital infrastructure journey.

“In sum, by digitising access to customer’s financial and non-financial data that otherwise resided in disparate silos, ULI is expected to cater to large unmet demand for credit across various sectors, particularly for agricultural and MSME borrowers,” he added.

Highlighting central bank digital currency (CBDC), he said that there should not be any rush to roll out system-wide CBDC before one acquires a comprehensive understanding of its impact .

“Such understanding would emerge from generation of user data in pilots. Actual introduction of CBDC can be phased in gradually. Undoubtedly, CBDC has the potential to underpin the payment systems of the future, both for domestic payments and also cross-border payments,” he said.

The central bank launched also CBDC pilots both in retail and wholesale segments back in 2022. The governor said, “While the retail pilot started with the initial use case of payments, currently both the offline and programmability functionalities are also being tested. The programmability feature of CBDC could serve as a key enabler for financial inclusion by ensuring delivery of funds to the targeted user.”