Race Game

??Top ministers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet convened in the capital on Monday to chart out a road map for cashless payments, which is one of the government’s key agendas after the demonetisation exercise. 

??A plan has been chalked out in the meeting to promote tools such as Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and banking and digital wallet apps, as well as making government-owned touch points such as schools and post offices tech savvy for the disbursal of digital payments. 

??Also figured on top of the list was collaborating with state governments and authorities in the drive to convert the economy into a cashless one. The meeting was chaired by the minister for law, electronics and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad. Power minister Piyush Goyal, petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, health minister JP Nadda, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, Panchayati Raj minister Narendra Singh Tomar and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh were the other participants. 

??Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the nations small traders and daily wage earners to embrace digital payment channels, as a cash crunch following the governments surprise ban on high-value bank notes drags on.

??Modi, speaking in his monthly address on national radio, said the government understands that millions have been affected by the ban on 500-rupee and 1000-rupees notes, but defended the action.

??"I want to tell my small merchant brothers and sisters, this is the chance for you to enter the digital world," Modi said speaking in Hindi, urging them to use mobile banking applications and credit-card swipe machines.

??"Its correct that a 100 percent cashless society is not possible. But why dont we make a beginning for a less-cash society in India?," Modi said. "We can gradually move from a less-cash society to a cashless society."

??More than 90 percent of consumer purchases in India are transacted in cash, Credit Sissie estimates. While a smart phone boom and falling mobile data prices have led to a surge in digital payments in recent years, the base still remains low.

??Modi urged technology-savvy young people to spare some time teaching others how to use digital payment platforms.

??Talking about road accidents, he mentioned the case of a scooter rider lying bleeding on a road in Delhi with nobody helping him.

??“Several people have been writing to me that I should speak on road safety to create awareness about it. When we see the figures, we notice that in India, an accident takes place every minute and a death due to these takes place every four minutes. Among the victims, one-third are in the age group of 15-25 years,” the Prime Minister noted.

??Keeping this in mind, the government will soon bring a Road Transport and Safety Bill, he said.

??The government is also planning other important measures like putting in place a National Road Safety Policy and Road Safety Action Plan, he said.

??A project under which cashless treatment will be given to accident victims, wherein the victim does not have to worry for the first 50 hours as to who pays the money for treatment, will also be launched soon, he said.

??The project will be launched in Gurgaon, Jaipur and Vadodara and then to Mumbai, Ranchi, Rungaon and Maurya national highways.

??The chief executive of the NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, and about half a dozen secretaries were also present. In his monthly Mann Ki Baat address on Sunday, Modi said his government’s dream is to be make India a cashless society. 

??“This is correct that 100 per cent cashless society is never possible. But we can make a start with a less-cash society, then cashless society will not be a far-off destination,” he said, appealing to the youth to help in nation-building by teaching 10 families daily on how to conduct cashless transactions through mobile apps, mobile banking and debit or credit cards.

??According to a government official, the agenda behind the meeting was to discuss the methodology for quicker adoption of applications available for cashless transactions. These include the UPI — the newly-launched bank account to bank account money transfer system that moves money instantaneously — SBI apps such as SBI Buddy, which is the lender’s mobile wallet application, along with private technology platforms such as wallets by Paytm or Mobikwik. 

1. Internet cost: The Internet cost in India is still substantially high. There is no Wifi at public places and if people do not get their monthly data packs recharged, there is no way they can be connected to make on line payments. Internet connectivity is needed even for the e-wallets. In order to convince people to do cashless transactions, the cost of the Internet should be lowered and free WiFi should also be provided at public places.

2. Charges on cards, on line transactions: Heard of convenience charges? of course, you would have if you do on line transactions. These are additional charges that are levied by the vendors when they offer an on line payment facility. But when the government is forcing us to go cashless, shouldn’t this compulsory fee on on line transactions be taken off?

3. Internet blockage: States like Jammu and Kashmir often face crackdown where the internet is the first thing that is blocked. In such circumstances, neither is it possible to use cards for transactions nor is it possible to use e-wallets. Any alternatives there?

4. Are banks ready?: A cashless society needs a proper infrastructure. The banks need to be fully equipped to handle the surge in e-transactions. Infrastructure is also needed in terms of opening more accounts in the banks.

5. Smart phone affordability: Several companies have come up with new and inexpensive phones but they still not affordable for most of the population in the country. More affordable options should be launched by the government for people to buy smart phones for cashless transactions.

6. Infrastructure/phone battery: India still lacks when it comes to supporting a mobile society. It is extremely difficult to find a public charging point if the phone battery discharges. Even metro stations or railway stations in the tier one cities do not provide that infrastructure. So what happens if you have cash in your wallet, but you are out of battery after travelling on the road for a day? Is there any alternative that we have then?

7. Non-tech-savvy: While the new generation is glued to their phones and gadgets, computer literacy among the people in the over-50-age group is still low. Not many people are comfortable using computers or mobile phones and depend on their children when it comes to using the gizmos. Before promoting a cashless society, efforts need to be taken to educate people on how to use phones for transactions.

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8. Cyber security: In October 2016, the details of over 30 lakh debit cards was feared to have been exposed at ATMs. It was believed that the card and PIN details might have been leaked due to which customers were advised to change the PINs of their ATM-cum-debit cards. Stringent steps issuing new cards were also taken. Just a month later, the PM is motivating people to move to a cashless society. Is the cyber security in place? While a card is cloned, it takes several months to recover someone’s hard-earned money from the banks. How can people be assured that swiping cards at small shops and vendors will not be a risk to revealing our card details?

9. Network connectivity: Since the day demonetisation was announced, people are trying to use more of card transactions to save that dreaded trip to the bank and to save the last penny of the hard cash in hand. However, a sudden surge in card transactions has led to connectivity issues. Several people have faced trouble while standing in line to pay for a transaction at a shop when the card machines have stopped working due to an overload on the network. Connectivity issues must be resolved before dreaming about a cashless society.

10. Not enough bank accounts: Most people still do not have bank accounts. Most often there is just one account per family which also limits the number of cards people can have individually. A family of even four people cannot be dependent on just one card for all household expenditure.