India Payments

RBI, BIS Kicks off G20 TechSprint Competition Focused On Cross-Border Payments

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has jointly launched the fourth edition of the G20 TechSprint Initiative, a global technology competition to promote innovative solutions aimed at improving cross-border payments, under India’s G20 presidency.

The 2023 TechSprint is open to developers from around the world and will focus on three problem statements on cross-border payments. Details of registration and problem statements are available here.

Shortlisted teams will be invited to develop their solutions over a six-week period and each team will be eligible for a stipend of INR 8,00,000 (approximately US$ 10,000).

The shortlisted teams will have an opportunity to showcase their as-developed solutions and to receive feedback from national authorities and invited experts.

An independent panel of experts will select the most promising solution to each problem statement from the shortlisted solutions, to be announced at a final event in August/ September 2023.

The winners for each problem statement will receive an award of INR 40,00,000 (approximately US$ 50,000).

T Rabi Sankar

T Rabi Sankar, Deputy Governor, RBI said,

“The time is opportune for innovative tech-based solutions facilitated through standardised protocols and arrangements among nations to solve this problem.

When payments across borders become efficient, economic linkages, economic cooperation and economic activities across borders become easier, effective and efficient.”

Cecilia Skingsley

Cecilia Skingsley, Head of the BIS Innovation Hub said,

“While preserving financial integrity, payments should be able to flow seamlessly across borders and between payment systems to promote competition.

The BIS Innovation Hub has been working closely with our global membership to experiment with different innovative solutions to improve many of its known issues.”