UPI, developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has room to grow and can become the world leader in payments.

Stating this, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das dismissed criticism from certain quarters that NPCI, after the huge success of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), has become a monopoly.

Das said RBI is not averse to having a rival to NPCI. In fact, the central bank had sought applications but none of the proposals that came had anything new to offer.

"All the proposals looked almost a copy of what NPCI is already doing with some minor modifications...So we haven't taken an official view and as and when we do that, we will clear our stand on the idea of creating a rival to NPCI," Das said.

UPI is already operational in some countries, including Singapore and the UAE. Its monthly volume in the country crossed the 100-billion mark many months ago, PTI reported. 

"UPI has already become a digital public infrastructure. In fact, it has to grow even further. I would say this is the best payments system in the world as of now and I wish it becomes the world leader in it," Das said while speaking at a BFSI seminar organised by business daily Mint. 

On the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), Das said RBI is working on the programmability of the digital rupee so that it can be used for specific payments like government subsidies or cash payouts.

"Currently, we are moving towards money market operations (in the wholesale CBDC area) and slowly we will be adding new segments and areas where CBDC operations will do. It's a pilot project. We are in no great hurry because after all we are creating a new currency system," he said.