All Hail RBI's Move to Setup Digital Payments Committee! The digital payments industry has a wobbly reputation; this is a good move for strengthening the digital payments sector

The RBI on Tuesday announced that it has formed a digital payments committee to encourage digitization of payments and enhance financial inclusion. The committee will, apparently, be headed by Nandan Nilekani. RBI's former Deputy Governor H.R. Khan and Former Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology, Aruna Sharma and Sanjay Jain, chief innovation officer at the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship, Ahmedabad are also a part of the committee.

Nilekani is not a new name in the business world. Co-founder of Infosys, Nilekani is the face behind Adhaar, India's revolutionary and mammoth identity endeavour. He is also the former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI).

All Hail RBI!

The move has been welcomed by the business world and entrepreneurs at large. Niranjankumar Laxman Upadhye, General Manager-Fraud Risk Management, Worldline India feels this is a highly pragmatic and forward-looking directive by the RBI.

The digital payments industry has a wobbly reputation. Although it is good for strengthening the economy, this sector has been facing a lot of challenges especially when it comes to faith aspect from customers.

This panel of 5 has been formed with the mission of bridging the gaps in the ecosystem and also to further strengthen the fintech sector of the economy which has massive potential.

Kumar Abhishek, CEO and co-founder, ToneTag, feels that the formation of the committee is a good sign for Fintech, as its objectives align with the aim of the industry, "With various startups trying to bridge the last mile in financial inclusion, the committee will act as a big driver in achieving the same."

Abhishek also emphasized that now with companies and the committee working together, it will help overcome the challenges like security which acts as a barrier for the digital transaction. "The foreseeable future will see a new wage of digitization with this initiative."

A Matter of Faith

The directive by RBI has made given the Fintech industry a reason to rejoice but there is also a lot of belief in the people who will be running the committee.

Mandar Agashe, Founder and Vice Chairman, Sarvatra Technologies feels that being the co-founder of Infosys, actively involved as an advisor to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and one of the key brains behind the development of successful payments technology - UPI, Nilekani understands the digital payments space very well. "He has already played a critical role in building India's digital story. Someone of his calibre appointed to head the digital payments committee of RBI is a boon for the entire industry. We are sure that the guidelines issued in future under his leadership will help in growing the digital payments space at a faster pace."

To lead this committee requires deep understanding and knowledge of the ecosystem especially in the three key domains of government policies, technology and payments infrastructure. Agashe is more than assured that Nilekani will seamlessly pull India out of the current predicaments with relation to digital payments.

Vishwas Patel, Chairman, Payments Council of India welcomed the step taken by RBI and termed it "progressive." Patel also feels that this committee will strengthen the aspect of faith in the industry, something that has been dwindling or lacking the unconditional aspect. "The report of the committee can help the Digital Payment industry in realizing the potential of growing into a $1 trillion market by the year 2023 as predicted by Niti Aayog in its report Digital Payments – Trends, Issues and Opportunities. New technological innovations and facilitating policies by the regulators be a perfect blend for the growth of any industry."