Bengaluru, Nov 30 (UNI) Digital India did not mean providing debit
and credit cards and payment gateways for all, but to unveil
products to the poor with negligible transaction costs, Union
Minister of state for Communication Manoj Sinha said on Thursday.
Addressing a Symposium organised by International Telecom Union
here, he said telecom services will be the core for financial
inclusion and digital economy of India and the country would bank on
its own ICT and IT services expertise to create payment
applications, especially Aadhaar and biometric payment authorisation
systems.
'We have to do away with using plastic cards with cryptic
passwords,' he stressed.
He said the core of digital India was to create Internet access
to every citizen and BharatNet aimed to connect all 6 lakh villages
with this.
'India is aiming to be a USD 10 trillion economy and only this
technology will enable it. Financial inclusion will be bigger than
industrial revolution,' he asserted.
Mr Sinha also said the Union government led by Mr Narendra Modi was
committed to eradicate cyber threats to the maximum extent.
He said Internet connection to every village was the key and
Internet accessability at 35 percent or 460 million users as of now
as on the lower side.
'The digital economy pushed by the Modi government has seen all
round increase and disbursal of benefits to the poor through digital
means to their bank accounts. Since January 1, 2017, about 26.7
billion digital transactions have been completed. This number is
still significant as there are only 460 million internet users in the
country amounting to 35 per cent of internet penetration.
'Every single person should become online, whether he pays for
it or not, this is our aim. This possibility is exciting,' he said.
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