Government’s Push For Digital Payments

Underlining his government’s intentions to push for digital economy in the country, Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur on Friday said that while the Western countries transitioned from paper currency to plastic card currency, India would directly switch to digital currency much faster and with more volume than anywhere else in the world.

He said that digital payments ushered by the government’s Digital India mission would ensure that more people, especially in rural areas, can benefit from technology. He said that the government had ensured that the advantages of technology are not restricted to a select few but are there for all sections of the society.

“And in order to ensure digital literacy in every household, government has initiated the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan to make 60 million adults digitally literate in rural India, of which more than 10 million people have already been trained,” he said.

Addressing a conference on digital and cashless economy, the minister said the government had left behind the “chalta hai” (casual) attitude and adopted “badal sakta hai” (it can change) vision.

The minister said that the Reserve Bank of India has already released its ‘Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019-2021’ which aims to transform India into a cash-lite economy and ensure that the country has ‘state-of-the-art’ payment and settlement systems that are safe and secure.  However, he also cautioned that with these disruptive transformations comes immense challenges of integrity and security of digital payment systems which is where there is a need for the government and the industry to partner together.

Recalling an incident of Prime Minister Narendra Modi paying his tribute in Sri Krishna Temple in Guruvayur, Kerala last month through a digital transaction, Thakur said “temple, tradition and technology can co-exist in the New India”.

“This is how tradition meets technology,” Thakur said, adding that by applying Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and Aadhaar-linked payments, the government had reduced delays in the payment of wages, curbed corruption and plugged any leakages in the system.