Fintech helping tackle black money, low tax-GDP ratio: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

In a jibe that seemed to be directed at China, the Union minister said that India is boosting its digital economy and entrepreneurs at a time when some countries are demolishing their start-ups

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Saturday that fintech innovations under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India initiative, which birthed the Aadhaar and united payments interface (UPI), have accelerated the formalisation of India’s economy that had been plagued by issues such as black money and a poor tax-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio for decades.

The minister of state for skill development and entrepreneurship was speaking at the InFinity Forum organised by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and Bloomberg.

In a jibe apparently directed at China’s crackdown on its tech companies, Chandrasekhar said that India is boosting its digital economy and entrepreneurs at a time when some countries, especially to India’s north, are demolishing their start-ups.

“The prime minister’s Digital India mission had three main objectives: to empower all citizens, create entrepreneurial opportunities for the youth and build strategic capabilities for the country,” the minister observed.

Chandrasekhar highlighted that the efforts towards digitising the economy had not only helped improve the lives of citizens and boosted entrepreneurship in the country, but also affected deep behavioural changes such as the adoption of digital payments.

The Union Minister said that the success of Aadhaar and UPI have shown that technologies built by the government can boost the country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. “When I started out as an entrepreneur less than three decades back, there were hardly any investments and very few people were willing to take risks. That is no more the case today,” he added.