India to Launch Unified Lending Interface (ULI)

MUMBAI (Reuters) – India will launch a platform to transfer credit to small and rural borrowers, targeting the significant unmet demand across various sectors, especially agriculture and small businesses, according to the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday.

The Unified Lending Interface (ULI), scheduled to be launched “in due course,” aims to reduce the credit assessment time for these borrowers and facilitate a consent-based flow of digital information, as stated by Shaktikanta Das at an event.

Das emphasized that the ULI platform is designed to ensure digital access to information from diverse sources.

The governor mentioned that a pilot program was initiated last year as part of the central bank’s initiative to digitalize banking services, making India one of the fastest-growing digital payments markets globally.

These initiatives include digital wallets, mobile banking, and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which allows users to transfer money between bank accounts via a mobile device.

“Just like UPI transformed the payments ecosystem, we expect ULI to play a similar role in transforming the lending space in India,” Das concluded.