The shift to digital payments: Empowering rural areas to make transactions seamless indiatimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indiatimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
by Swarajya Staff - Jun 3, 2021 07:39 AM
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Snapshot
While digital payments are largely a success story in India, there are some issues which demand immediate attention.
The Bengaluru-based Smahi Foundation of Policy and Research has published a report on Indiaâs digital payment sector and the revolution which changed the transaction system in the country.
As per Smahi, which is a non-profit organization, Indiastackâsuch as Aadhar, UPI, e-KYC, and e-signature, is paving the way for a massive world-leading âDigital Payments Revolutionâ.
The entry of well-funded and aggressive technology-first enterprises (which were formerly dominated by banks) has made digital payments commonplace in India, laying a strong basis for digitalization and cross-selling of other financial services and products.
The payments revolution
The pandemic is driving up contact-less transactions
With the lockdown last year, India witnessed an unprecedented shift to digital transactions. Yes, digital payments have spiked earlier in 2017, for instance but this time, it’s different.
This time round, people have cash, but are choosing to go digital, driven not by cash-back or reward points, but the fear of physical contact with virus carriers. Millions of people are opting for low-contact processes, from ordering online to no-touch delivery and digital in-store payments.
With many countries raising transaction limits for contact-less payments, governments are encouraging citizens to go digital. The RBI has waived transaction limits on contact-less cards, with tap and go enabled for up to ₹5,000.
RBI needs to develop new regulatory frameworks for fintech lending: Das medianama.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medianama.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Technology is a great enabler. Ask any founder in India s burgeoning startup ecosystem and they would agree that without technology and innovation, their company would probably not exist. Interestingly, several traditional and legacy companies may also say the same today.
When it comes to the financial sector, technology has made possible functions that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. Like tapping your credit card to pay for your groceries. Or scanning a code to pay your cab fare.
Deliberating on what the future holds for digital payments in India, Sajith Sivanandan, MD & Business Head - Google Pay & Next Billion User Initiative, Google India, and T.R. Ramachandran, Group Country Manager - India & South Asia, VISA, said the primary requirement was to make payments seamless.