RBI appoints Aadhar architect Nandan Nilekani as chairman of digital payments panel

Nilekani is also a Congress member who had in 2014 fought elections from Bangalore South seat but lost to late BJP leader Ananth Kumar.

With a view to encourage digitisation of payments and enhance financial inclusion through digitisation, the Reserve Bank of India in a statement said it has decided to constitute a High-Level Committee on Deepening of Digital Payments.

"The Committee shall submit its report within a period of 90 days from the date of its first meeting," read the statement.

Apart from Nandan Nilekani, the committee  comprised of four other members.

H.R. Khan, former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Kishore Sansi, former Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Vijaya Bank, Aruna Sharma, former Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology and Steel and Sanjay Jain, Chief Innovation Officer, Center for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE), IIM Ahmedabad are the other members of the committee.

The Terms of Reference of the Committee are as under:

To review the existing status of digitisation of payments in the country, identify the current gaps in the ecosystem and suggest ways to bridge them;

To assess the current levels of digital payments in financial inclusion;

To undertake cross country analyses with a view to identify best practices that can be adopted in our country to accelerate digitisation of the economy and financial inclusion through greater use of digital payments;

Suggest measures to strengthen the safety and security of digital payments;

To provide a road map for increasing customer confidence and trust while accessing financial services through digital modes;

To suggest a medium-term strategy for deepening of digital payments;

Any other related item of importance.

Nandan: Architect of Aadhar

Nandan Nilekani had earlier served as the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

During his tenure as the UIDAI chairman, he had overseen the implementation of the Aadhaar card during the Congress-led UPA government's regime.

Arun Jaitley calls Aadhar a 'game changer':

Interestingly, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday called the Aadhar Card as a 'game changer' and informed that till March 2018 it has helped the government in saving around Rs. 90,000 crore over the last few years by eliminating duplicate and fake beneficiaries.

He said in the last 28 months over 122 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued. 

In a Facebook post, the Minister said: "99% of the adult population of India above the age of 18 stands covered."

He said UIDAI has the capacity of 10 crore transactions to be authenticated per day.

Image: Nandan Nilekani Twitter page