More incentives are needed to push digital financial transactions for achieving cashless economy, according to H R Khan, former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Speaking at the inaugural session of a three-day conference on mining intelligence on knowledge exploration being organised by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) here on Wednesday, Khan said though there were some incentives announced after the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes in November 2016, there was a need for more of such incentives at different levels.

"Post demonetisation, there were some ups and downs but digital transactions are going up compared to what was prevailing a year-ago,’’ he said while declining to spell out other positive and negative aspects of currency withdrawal.While observing that digital economy was "good’’ for growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Khan said the cash to GDP ratio in India was high at 12 per cent against 5 to 7 per cent in other developing economies.

Referring to innovation in digital economy, he said fintech players and banks should collaborate better. "Fintechs and banks will have to co-exist. While banks are risk averse, fintechs can take risks,’’ he noted adding that the marriage between the two was already happening and would drive innovation.

A S Ramsastry, Director, IDRBT, said the institute, which is an arm of RBI, is stepping up research efforts in blockchain, analytics, cyber security and cloud-based payment systems. "We are also trying to understand how crypto currency works,’’ he added.

The inter-disciplinary conference will have 40 research paper presentations by experts from across the world.

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