The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a non-profit umbrella group for India’s retail payments and settlement systems, has announced that it is considering the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to enhance digital transactions across its member banks.

Local business magazine Business Today reported on April 14 that NPCi said it “intends to develop a resilient, real time and highly scalable blockchain solution”. It is proposed to develop this solution using an open source technology/framework/solution”. In relation to this, NPCI has raised an Express of Interest (EOI) in order to enable companies to put forth their proposals for developing DLT and blockchain in the payment domain.

Founded in 2008, NPCI is an association of 10 banks working together to drive domestic retail payments and systems, along with 56 other banks as stakeholders. NPCI was set up by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

The magazine claims that according to Big Four audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), India is poised to be a global leader in blockchain by 2023. Just last month, for example, the government said the Coffee Board of India has introduced a blockchain-based e-marketplace for coffee, reported The Crypto Sight.

Developments like this, however, contrast with where India may eventually choose to stand with regards to its position on cryptocurrency. The Crypto Sight has reported before that the country has been fraught with delays and uncertainty in the past year or so over establishing a framework to regulate crypto – or even ban it outright.