NITI Aayog and Mastercard release report on creating roadmap for a digitally-inclusive nation

NITI Aayog and Mastercard on Monday released a report titled ‘Connected Commerce: Creating a Roadmap for a Digitally Inclusive Bharat’. The report identifies challenges in boosting digital and financial inclusion in the nation and recommends how digital services can be made accessible to all.

NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar; CEO Amitabh Kant; and Ajit Pai, Distinguished Expert and Head, Economics and Finance Cell; along with Ravi Aurora, Senior Vice President and Group Head, Global Community Relations, Mastercard, released the report.

According to a statement, the report was based on five roundtable discussions held in 2020. It highlights the pressing issues and opportunities, draws inferences, and provides recommendations on policy and capacity building across fields. These sectors include agriculture, small business (MSMEs), urban mobility, and cybersecurity.

The discussions, which were led by NITI Aayog and supported by Mastercard, featured experts from the government, banking sector, financial regulators, fintech enterprises, and various ecosystem innovators.

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Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, said:

“Technology has been transformational, providing greater and easier access to financial services. India is seeing increasing digitisation of financial services, with consumers shifting from cash to cards, wallets, apps, and UPI. This report looks at some key sectors and areas that need digital disruptions to bring financial services to everyone.”

According to the statement, some of the key recommendations in the report include:

1. Strengthening payment infrastructure to promote a level playing field for NBFCs and banks
2. Digitising registration and compliance processes and diversifying credit sources to enable growth opportunities for MSMEs
3. Building information sharing systems, including a ‘fraud repository’, and ensuring that online digital commerce platforms carry warnings to alert consumers to the risk of frauds.
4. Enabling agricultural NBFCs to access low-cost capital and deploy a ‘phygital’ (physical + digital) model for achieving better long-term digital outcomes.
5. Making city transit seamlessly accessible to all with minimal crowding and queues, leveraging existing smartphones and contactless cards, and aim for an inclusive, interoperable, and fully open system.