Government Gets a Seat on India's New Payments Regulator. Here's Why

India's decision to establish a new regulatory board with government representation shows a desire to manage and control the critical digital public infrastructure, including the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) that accounts for nearly 80% of all cashless transactions, according to industry experts.

- Anshika Kayastha

Last week, the government notified rules to set up a Payments Regulatory Board, replacing the existing Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement System. It will be chaired by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, and will have two other RBI members. The Union government will nominate three representatives.

"UPI is a digital public infrastructure like Aadhaar. We're talking about the payments infrastructure in the country, which is a national critical asset," said Vivek Mandhata, managing director and partner, Boston Consultancy Group (BCG). "So the government and regulator together have to define the path, and that's probably the intention why this kind of a committee structure is being set up."