More incentives are needed to push digital transactions and move towards a less-cash economy, according to HR Khan, former deputy governor of RBI.

Though some incentives were announced after the demonetisation of ₹1,000 and ₹500 notes in November 2016, there was a need for more such incentives at different levels, Khan said at the inaugural session of a three-day conference on ‘Mining Intelligence on Knowledge Exploration’ organised by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) here on Wednesday.

“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 GDP growth, Khan said the cash-to- GDP ratio in India was high at 12 per cent against 5-7 per cent in other developing economies.

Referring to innovation in the 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.

AS 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, among others. “We are also trying to understand how crypto currency works,” he added.

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

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