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Less-cash society more achievable than cashless: E-payment leaders

''When we talk about cashless society, we are not talking about people in Mumbai. We are talking about people who are in the hinterland''

(L-R) Ganesh Ananthanarayanan, Airtel Payments Bank, Dilip Asbe, MD & CEO, NPCL, Sandeep Ghosh, Group Country Manager, India & South Asia, VISA, Rishi Gupta,MD & CEO, Fino Payments Bank, Vishwas Patel, Chairman, Payments Council of India (PCI), Parag
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(From left) Airtel Payments Bank COO Ganesh Ananthanarayanan; NPCI MD & CEO Dilip Asbe; Visa India and South Asia Group Country Manager Sandeep Ghosh; Fino Payments Bank MD & CEO Rishi Gupta; Payments Council of India Chairman Vishwas Patel; and Par

Subrata Panda
While digital payments have skyrocketed in the last five years, with the pandemic providing a fillip, the aim to be a cashless society is still a far-fetched dream for India.

However, being a less-cash society is something that the country can achieve in the medium term, panellists at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit on Digital and Payment Banks concurred.

“I think all of us are aligned with the idea of less cash than cashless.

I just hope CBDC (central bank digital currency) does some magic so that we reach the cashless dream.

So, in 3-5 years’ time, if we