December 15, 2016 / 07:59 IST
Moneycontrol Bureau
Earlier this month, the government formed a 13-member committee comprising chief ministers, bureaucrats and industry bigwigs to push for digital transactions.
The committee has a daunting task at hand — laying out a road map for e-payments, incentivising cashless transactions and, more importantly, successfully implementing digital transaction mechanisms across the country.
Of the 13-member team, actions of three men will hold the key to realising effectively Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of a cashless economy.
Amitabh Kant
CEO, NITI Aayog
Amitabh Kant is keenly overseeing measures to boost Aadhaar-enabled payment systems (AEPS). Even as the government is developing a common mobile app for AEPS, Kant is in discussions with mobile manufacturers to embed biometric authentication systems — iris and fingerprint scanners — to boost AEPS and bypass modes such as card and e-wallet payments. Besides, Kant has proposed weekly and quartely "lucky draw" prizes for consumers making digital transactions.
AP Hota
CEO, National Payments Council of India
Abhaya Prasad Hota has been the government's go-to man for online banking systems. Hota implemented NEFT, IMPS and similar online funds transfer facilities.
Hota is now betting on feature phones to drive up mobile payments. NPCI has renewed its push for USSD, or *99#, service which allows for offline funds transfer through mobile phones without data connectivity. Hota and his team is developing a simplified and easy-to-use version of *99# — a service he dubs as a mass product.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) was launched under Hota's leadership and the scheme has lately got a fillip due to the government's demonetisation drive.
Nandan Nilekani
Ex-chairman, UIDAI
Nandan Nilekani is the architect of Aadhaar, and charting a cashless future won't be his first national project. His inputs will be crucial for AEPS and technological know-how imperative to drive up adoption of digital payments.
Nilekani and the committee will deliberate upon and find ways to bring India under cashless payments framework, be it through smartphones feature phones, point-of-sale machines, credit/debit/RuPay cards or even UPI.
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