Watal committee submits report on boosting digital payments to Jaitley

The Committee on Digital Payments, headed by former Finance Secretary Ratan P. Watal, submitted its final report suggesting measures to boost cashless transactions in the medium term, to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday, an official statement said.

"The Committee constituted by the Ministry of Finance under the chairmanship of Ratan P. Watal, Principal Advisor, NITI Aayog and former Finance Secretary today submitted its final report to the Finance Minister.

"In its report, the Committee has recommended that a medium term strategy for accelerating growth of digital payments in India with a regulatory regime which is conducive to bridging the digital divide by promoting competition, open access and interoperability in payments," said a Finance Ministry statement.

The report recommends inclusion of financially and socially excluded groups and assimilation of emerging technologies in the market, while safeguarding security of digital transactions and providing level playing to all stakeholders and new players who will enter this new transaction space, it said.

"It has suggested inter-operability of the payments system between banks and non-banks, up-gradation of the digital payment infrastructure and institutions and a framework to reward innovations and for leading efforts in enabling digital payments," it added.

The Committee, which had submitted an interim report on November 21, has provided a framework for smooth and speedy transition towards a digital payments economy.

"Towards finalisation of the report, the Committee engaged extensively with all stakeholders and technology groups including Reserve Bank of India, state governments, Comptroller Auditor General of India, payment companies, technology companies and the academia," the statement noted.

The government had constituted the Committee on August 23 to review the payment systems in the country and to recommend appropriate measures for encouraging digital payments.

--IANS

mm/vd