Government of India Digital Transactions Target – 2,500 crores / 25 Billion

          Government of India under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi has set a target of 2,500 crore digital transactions in the financial year 2017-2018.

          The number of 2,500 crore digital transactions or 25 billion digital transactions has been announced by Shri Arun Jaitely, Union Minister for Finance, Government of India, in Parliament on February 1, 2017 during the presentation of the Union Budget for 2017-18.

An announcement has been made to set up a Mission to reach 25 billion digital transactions for 2017-18 through Unified Payment Interface (UPI), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Aadhar Pay, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and debit cards.

Please note transactions through Cheques will not qualify under the 25 billion numbers.

The action from the Central Government side has picked up for ensuring that the target of 25 billion digital transactions is met by 31^st March, 2018.

The government has split the number across 35 government ministries and 29 states and seven Union Territories.

In the next couple of months a real-time tracking portal will be rolled out. The primary objective of the portal is to remind the various stake-holders the road ahead.

The ministry of road transport and highways and the department of telecommunications (DoT) will be chasing the highest targets for electronic payments in the government's plan to turn India into a less-cash economy.

Ministries have been chosen depending on their ability to carry out digital transactions through their physical footprint. “For the petroleum ministry, the point of interface will be the petrol pump network; for human resource development it is the educational institutes, and for railways, it will be the stations or the booking counters," said the official.

Image courtesy - Economic Times

While the ministry of road transport and highways and the department of telecommunications have been given targets upwards of 5 billion, they are followed by the ministries of railways and petroleum and natural gas, which must aim for 2.82 billion and 2.29 billion transactions, respectively.

Now the targets have been distributed, the respective ministries and states will unveil detailed road-maps.

Among states, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have the highest targets (above 3 billion) followed by Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat with numbers in the 1.5-2 billion range.

Gyan Sangam – The Beginning and The End

            The physical 2 days Banking Retreat @ Gyan Sangam NIBM Pune is over. 

            A beginning has been made to revitalize the Public Sector Banks morale.

            The issues are complex and there are no simple answers.

Gyan Sangam is expected to be Annual Retreat.

There is a give and take policy at the Gyan Sangam deliberations.

A dedicated Gyan Sangam website would enable the general public also to participate in this change.

At the end of Gyan Sangam 2015, bankers collectively resolved to improve on five points.

At the same time they demanded some commitment from the government to improve the state of banking in the country.

State Bank of India Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya made the presentation to Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi on behalf of all Bankers.

Quote "We as a group (all public sector banks) have decided to adopt five major resolutions."Unquote

The five points include:

01)  a decision to re-orient the portfolios of small public sector banks to focus on specific and differentiated niches,

02)build people capacities,

03)use of more technology (especially in the top 30 processes),

04)strengthen risk management practises

05) strengthen the partner channels such as business correspondents.

Financial Services Secretary, Hasmukh Adhia, said, "This is something banks have said they will work upon...we have specified no timelines for any of them."

 At the same time, bankers have also asked the government for some commitment which Adhia said will be looked into "positively."

The bankers have requested the government to move from a state-owned structure to a state-linked structure, as recommended by the P.J.Nayak committee report. This would entail, among other things, setting up of a banking bureau comprising of professionals and eminent bankers to appoint and empower individual bank boards.

Other commitments requested by the banks, of the government include:

a)     fully empower banks on human resource related decisions,

b)   creating the right environment for minimal interference,

c)    strengthening the legal framework for recovery of loans,

d)    strengthening and simplify processes for credit insurance,

e)    eliminate debt waivers and

f)    do away with interest rate caps,

g)    and finally creating the enabling infrastructure for digital banking.

Media was not allowed to cover the PM's address. In the coming days, more details are expected to be released to the media.