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FinTech India: It’s a good plan when a govt. makes business sector a part of public digitisation

There is always a connection between the public sector and business sectors, as they’re undeniably interconnected through mutual progress.

A study suggests that digital transformation in the business and public sector will increase the depth and efficiency of financial markets. In fact, digitalization in public sectors is an essential factor in driving access to financial markets.

The study measured the short and long term impacts of digitalization, which revealed that e-commerce and e-government have a long-term beneficial influence on financial markets and financial institutions, respectively.

For example, in March, the RBI launched the UPI platform 123PAY, with the aim of strengthening digitisation and enhancing safe online transactions, while including feature phone owners in FinTech digitisation.

For the same, the RBI selected four businesses as digital solutions for the newly launched UPI 123Pay platform. The RBI will draw on already established tech in the market to further public sector digitisation, which is a good plan.

The RBI will draw on already established tech in the market to further public sector digitisation, which is a good plan

For instance, MissCallPay a fintech startup that works through voice based payment system, is part of the array of businesses the RBI chose. The users using even a feature phone can access their bank account and perform routine transactions such as receiving and transferring funds, regular purchases, bill payments and others by giving a missed call on the number displayed at the merchant’s place.

The customers then receive an incoming call asking to authenticate the transaction by entering the UPI Pin. The product is endorsed for its safety features and ability to work over non-smart phones, thus penetrating rural and semi-urban populations.

“These products, coupled with other complementary solutions, will facilitate UPI-based digital payment solutions on feature phones to promote wider digitisation. It is proposed to launch a UPI-based payment product for feature phone users. Further details will be announced shortly,” NDTV quoted RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das in December, when talks of the launch started.

India’s mobile phone consumer base is approx 118 crore users (TRAI, October 2021), with a sizeable number belonging to users on feature phones.

Navanwita Bora Sachdev

Navanwita is the editor of The Tech Panda who also frequently publishes stories in news outlets such as The Indian Express, Entrepreneur India, and The Business Standard