The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India jointly launches today a national campaign to promote the adoption of electronic payments in line with Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India and less-cash economy. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology flagged off the mega campaign at Scope Complex Convention Centre, New Delhi in the presence of umpteen number of highly placed cabinet official and dignitaries.
The campaign will be jointly conducted by CAIT and NIELIT, a body under MeitY. During the campaign all over the Country 5 Regional Conferences, 30 State level Conferences and 100 Digidhan Camps will be organised in different cities of the Country.
While speaking at the Conference, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that traders are the only vertical of any economy which follows its legacy and adopt the time needed changes in its business format very fast and therefore adoption of digital payments in not a very difficult task for the traders. He said that it will lead to honest economy in the Country.
He further said that Ministry of IT & Communication has been chosen as nodal department for augmentation of digital payments in the Country with a target of concluding 2500 crore digital transactions this year. With help of the traders, the target will be achieved-he added. Mr. Prasad said that trader’s establishment is the only place which can train large number of people in a day who visit shops for purchasing and this way the digital payment will enable to stand in first row over the globe.
In addition to eminent personalities from the industry and Government of India, Dr. Ashwani Kumar Sharma, DG, NIELIT & Sanjiv Mittal, Joint Secretary, MeitY were also present at the event beside large number of trade leaders from Delhi and NCR region. Senior officials of MasterCard, HDFC Bank 7 other financial Institutions, technology service providers. The campaign is kicked off with the purpose to persuade non-corporate business sector for amplified adoption of Digital Payments and to spread awareness about importance of electronic/cashless transactions in businesses.
Praveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General, Confederation of All India Traders commented on the occassion, “ By joining hands, we endeavour to transform India into a better and transparent economy prospering everyone. We together understand that digital transactions are element to comprehensive growth of all pillars of ever-changing and ever-growing economy and hence making Prime Minister’s vision a reality, of establishing India as strongest and fastest growing country in the world.” He further said that If digital payment is to be leveraged, the Govt must absorb transaction charges by subsidising the same to Banks and effective incentive schemes must be announced to promote more & more digital payments in India.
The benefits of digitalised transactions/payments are manifold as it operates on technologies designed to safeguard data and hence making transactions more secure. Electronic transactions also helps traders increase the value of transactions as research shows that consumers attempt to make higher value purchases when using debit and credit cards and works as an effective way to promote customer loyalty. Digital transactions can also create an instant payment trail for payers and payees, making it easier to track and record transactions.
CAIT proudly shares about its phenomenal contribution to Government of India’s endeavors to transform the country into less cash society resulting into reduced corruption and transparency in taxation system. In association with Mastercard, it has organised more than 100 training conferences in 2015 and 2016, including “Train the Trainer” workshops in over 30 cities across the country through which they were successful in reaching out to over 5 lakh traders.
By Baishakhi Dutta
