Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that India's rural economy is transforming, with digital transactions becoming popular in the villages.
Addressing civil servants on the occasion of the National Civil Services Day in New Delhi, the Prime Minister said: "India is number one in digital payments. India is one of the countries where mobile data is the cheapest. Today, the country's rural economy is transforming."
Modi pointed out the existence of several loopholes in public schemes before his government launched the Digital India program.
"It was due to the previous system that there were over 40 million fake gas connections, 40 million fake ration cards, minority ministry was giving scholarship benefits to 3 million fake youths," Modi elaborated.
Eight years ago, the BJP-led central government began the Digital India program intending to promote "faceless, paperless and cashless" transactions in the country which was majorly a cash economy at the time.
Since then the percentage of cashless transactions in India has jumped to 40 percent and digital payments are slated to touch the $10 trillion mark in 2026 as per a recent study by digital payments company PhonePe and Boston Consulting Group (BSG).
Much of the credit for India's fintech revolution goes to India's payment gateway, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which came into being in 2016.
Besides India, the UPI payment system is now available in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia, Oman, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
Much of the credit for India's fintech revolution goes to India's payment gateway, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which came into being in 2016.
Besides India, the UPI payment system is now available in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia, Oman, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg.