How India Wants Its Money And Why Cashless Transaction Is Far From Reality

With 100 million users in a country of 1,350 million, cashlessness of the digital kind is a long way home

By Jyotika Sood

June 24, 2019

Slow Motion
Jan Dhan queue in Hyderabad
Photograph by PTI

Nilekani’s Way Forward

Some recommendations of the RBI-appointed Nandan Nilekani committee on digital payments:

No-KYC wallets with a maximum value of Rs 2,000 and monthly spending capped at Rs 10,000

Digital payments by citizens to all government and public sector agencies

Removal of all charges on digital payment transactions

Extension of RuPay and BHIM UPI overseas to facilitate easy remittance

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious project—JAM (Jan-Aadhaar-Mobile)—got a shot in arm recently when the five-member panel under Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani, formed by the Reserve Bank of India, projected that per capita digital transactions in India are set to increase from 22 in March 2019 to 220 by March 2022. The panel also said that the number of digital transaction users in the country would rise from 100 million to 300 million over the next three years. The numbers may look...