Demonetisation: Panel of Chief Ministers to Boost Digital Payments in India

To promote the use of digital payment systems to encourage transparency, financial inclusion and prepare a roadmap in this regard, the Modi government has formed a committee headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Sikkim CM Pawan Kumar Chamling, Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis are other Chief Minister in the panel which also includes NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya, and Amitabh Kant CEO, NITI Aayog.

Nandan Nilekani, former Chairman, UIDAI, Janmejaya Sinha, Chairman, Boston Consulting Group, Rajesh Jain, Managing Director, netCORE, Sharad Sharma, Co-founder, iSPIRIT and Jayant Varma, Professor (Finance), IIM (Ahmedabad) are experts who as special invitees are part of the high level panel.

According to officials, the terms of reference of the committee are identifying global best practices for implementing an economy primarily based on digital payment and examine the possibility of adoption of these global standards in the Indian context.

The panel will also outline measures for rapid expansion and adoption of the system of digital payments like cards (Debit, Credit and pre-paid), Digital-wallets/ E-wallets, Internet banking, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), banking apps, etc and shall broadly indicate the roadmap to be implemented in one year.

It shall evolve an action plan to reach out to the public at large with the objective to create awareness and help them understand the benefits of such a switchover to digital economy and would prepare a roadmap for the administrative machineries in the States to facilitate adoption of digital modes of financial transactions.

The high level group will also identify and address bottlenecks and indicate solutions pertaining to adoption of the steps required to move towards a digital payments economy.

It will also associate the key stakeholders for implementation of the suggested steps towards a digital payments economy and delineate and adopt measures evolved by the Committee of Officers constituted for the purpose.

"Digitization of payments would significantly enhance financial inclusion by overcoming physical barriers and would thus enhance access to financial services rapidly. In addition, it would also enable formalization of all financial transactions thus increasing transparency and plugging leakages from the system," a senior official said.

The panel will also examine and address any other associated issues which are not specifically mentioned herein. The Committee may devise its own procedures for conducting business, meetings, constitution of sub-groups, etc.