The Reserve Bank of India constituted the Payments Regulatory Board on September 30, 2025, establishing a dedicated regulatory body for the oversight of all payment and settlement systems in the country. Formed under the newly notified Payments Regulatory Board Regulations, 2025, the six-member body replaces the former Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems that had governed India's payment infrastructure.
The board is chaired by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra and includes the Deputy Governor and Executive Director in charge of Payment and Settlement Systems as RBI members. Three nominees of the central government complete the board: the Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Secretary of the Department of Financial Services, and Aruna Sundararajan, a retired senior bureaucrat. The Principal Legal Adviser of the RBI serves as a permanent invitee to board proceedings.
The PRB held its inaugural meeting on January 5, 2026, where it reviewed the state of both domestic and global payment systems. The board's mandate encompasses the regulation and supervision of all payment systems operating in India, covering electronic and non-electronic channels as well as domestic and cross-border systems. This broad remit extends across UPI, RTGS, NEFT, IMPS, card networks, prepaid payment instruments, and all other payment channels operating in the country.
The formation of a dedicated regulatory board comes at a period of rapid expansion for Indian payments. The RBI is simultaneously rolling out a risk-based authentication framework for digital payments effective April 1, 2026, and has proposed a consumer compensation scheme for small-value digital fraud with payouts capped at 25,000 rupees. The PRB's establishment provides institutional continuity and regulatory clarity for the payment system operators, banks, and fintech companies that collectively power India's digital payment ecosystem, which now processes over 20 billion UPI transactions monthly.