According to Sanjeev Kaushik, Additional Secretary in the Department of Financial Services, the Indian government is looking at creating a uniform national portal for various financial products, government schemes, benefits, as well as protection goods, all accessible with a single click, MediaNama reported.
Mr. Kaushik was speaking at the 3rd Economic Times BFSI (ETBFSI) Conference on “Leveraging Digital Power for Promoting Financial Inclusion.” He also mentioned that the government will roll out digital loans at a later stage. “That one national platform will host not only collateral-based loans but also cash-based loans and savings products,” he added.
Importance of Fintech
Fintech companies, according to the Additional Secretary, have been supplying the government with analytics and tools, helping the government to push various financial products through digital platforms. Apart from assisting in the construction of a unified platform for financial schemes, fintech firms are also collaborating with the Finance Ministry on the Aspirational Districts program, Project Kashi, according to Kaushik.
Project Kashi is the government’s cash over internet scheme bringing seamless, paperless lending to farmers and laborers in just 5 mins. Kaushik said the government wants to form a risk-based assessment of the cash flows into accounts of DBT beneficiaries.
The Road ahead
Mr. Kaushik also talked about plans to increase UPI transactions. More than 2.25 lakh crore worth of transactions were completed through digital platforms and payment services in 2021, totaling more than 41 lakh crore rupees. “In terms of UPI, we hit the monthly transaction volume of 200 crores in June 2021. We had hit a figure of Rs 5 lakh crore.”
According to him, in 2013, only 30% of adults across the country had access to bank accounts and financial services. Citing a world bank report of 2017-18 Mr. Kaushik said, “India’s financial inclusion in adult bank accounts has reached more than 70%”.
UPI Transactions skyrocketing through the roof
In July 2021, NPCI recorded 3.24 billion transactions. It is an increase of 15.7% month on month. It recorded transactions worth Rs. 6.06 Lakh Cr, a 10.8% increase month on month.
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