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CAIT & MeitY join hands for campaign to promote adoption of e-payments
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Tuesday, 07 March, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, jointly launched a national campaign recently to promote the adoption of electronic payments in line with the prime minister’s vision of Digital India and a less-cash economy.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister of electronics and information technology, flagged off the mega campaign at Scope Complex Convention Centre, New Delhi, in the presence of several cabinet officials and dignitaries.
It will be jointly conducted by CAIT and the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), a body under the ministry. During the campaign, five regional conferences, 30 state-level conferences and 100 Digidhan camps will be organised in different cities of India.
Speaking at the conference, Prasad said, “Traders are the only vertical of any economy which follow its legacy and adopt the time-needed changes in its business format very fast, and therefore, the adoption of digital payments is not a very difficult task for them.”
The minister added that it would lead to an honest economy in the country. He stated that the ministry of information technology and communication had been chosen as the nodal department for the augmentation of digital payments in the country, with a target of concluding 2,500 crore digital transactions this year. “With the help of the traders, the target will be achieved,” he added.
Prasad said, “A trader’s establishment is the only place which can, in a day, train a large number of people who visit shops for purchasing, and this way, the digital payment will enable to stand in the first row over the globe.”
In addition to eminent personalities from the industry and the government and a number of trade leaders from Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), Ashwani Kumar Sharma, director general, NIELIT, and Sanjiv Mittal, joint secretary, MeitY, were also present at the event.
Senior officials of MasterCard, HDFC Bank, seven other financial institutions and technology service providers were also present.
The campaign was launched with the purpose of persuading the non-corporate business sector for the amplified adoption of digital payments and to spread awareness about the importance of electronic/cashless transactions in businesses.
Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary general, CAIT, said, “By joining hands, we endeavour to transform India into a better and transparent economy prospering everyone. We together understand that digital transactions are elementary to the comprehensive growth of all pillars of ever-changing and ever-growing economy and hence making the prime minister’s vision a reality of establishing India as the strongest and fastest-growing country in the world.”
He added, “If digital payment is to be leveraged, the government must absorb transaction charges by subsidising the same to banks and effective incentive schemes must be announced to promote more and more digital payments in India.”
The benefits of digitalised transactions and payments are manifold as it operates on technologies designed to safeguard data and hence making transactions more secure.
Electronic transactions also help traders increase the value of transactions, as research shows that consumers attempt to make higher-value purchases when using debit and credit cards and works as an effective way to promote customer loyalty.
Digital transactions can also create an instant payment trail for payers and payees, making it easier to track and record transactions.
CAIT proudly shared its phenomenal contribution to the government of India’s endeavours to transform the country into a less-cash society, resulting in reduced corruption and transparency in the taxation system.
In association with Mastercard, it organised over 100 training conferences in 2015 and 2016, including Train the Trainer workshops in over 30 cities across the country, through which they were successful in reaching out to over five lakh traders.
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