Create digital platform for MSME credit: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday urged the banking industry to create an innovative digital platform — as powerful, seamless and robust as UPI — for providing quick and easy credit to MSME, small businessmen, and those at the bottom of pyramid.

The building blocks required to create such a platform are already available, given the strong ecosystem of Aadhaar, mobile phones, UPI (Unified Payments Interface) platform and digilocker, he said asking the banking industry to come up with innovative idea and solutions in three months.

Vaishnaw was speaking at 'Digital payment Utsav' which was part of a weeklong showcase of India's achievements in digital space titled ‘Azadi ka Digital Mahotsav’ in the capital. 

Throwing a “challenge” at the bankers present in the audience, the minister said: “Can we create a platform as powerful, seamless, good, as digital as UPI platform for providing very quick and easy credit to the MSME, small industries, small businessmen...people really at bottom of pyramid.” The minister expressed willingness to look at promising concepts that are brought after three months, in response to the poser by him.