Banks eye ‘Pay Later’ buzz as RBI clears UPI credit lines

Indian banks can hop onto the buy-now pay-later (BPNL) bandwagon, with the Reserve Bank of India’s latest instructions around credit lines on the Unified Payments Interface.

On Monday, the RBI instructed banks to open up pre-sanctioned credit lines through UPI-based transactions. The move will enable BNPL-type recurring small-value credit transactions for UPI users at merchant outlets.

While fintechs and NBFCs have dominated the BNPL segment, it is now a major opportunity for banks to tap into. As of now most banks offer instant EMIs on credit cards with some select banks offering it on debit cards too. But with a presanctioned credit limit,