Nandan Nilekani-Led RBI Panel Wants Government To Digitise All Its Payments To Citizens

A committee on digital payments appointed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recommended that all the payments made by the government to citizens is moved online, including income tax and challans, reports Mint.

Currently, the government makes 80 per cent of its payments digitally to the citizens including salaries, pensions and social security payments.

The Nandan Nilekani-led committee in its road map aims to achieve complete digitisation of government payments in two to three years.

“Certain states have still not completely adopted digital payments. They continue to use cash or cheques. This has to change," said a source.

The Committee has suggested a medium-term strategy for expanding digital payments, measures to strengthen its safety and security and drive initiatives to increase customer confidence and trust while accessing the financial services through digital modes.

A Massive Industry

According to a report by Google and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the Indian digital payments industry is estimated to reach $500 billion by 2020, contributing 15 per cent to the country’s GDP while Mobile/Digital wallets (Capgemini’s World Payment Report) is expected to grow at 148 per cent over the next five years and will be a $4.4 billion opportunity by 2022.

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