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New Delhi: Digitization has made transactions more efficient and cost-effective, according to P Venkatesh, Co-founder and Director, Maveric Systems. In a conversation with india.com, Venkatesh said, “India was an early adopter of Unified Payment Interface (UPI). Money transfers for goods or services, as well as person-to-person transactions, have become more efficient and cost-effective as a result of this.”
“Small value payments would be a singular achievement if one were to point it out. The NPCI has integrated many bill payment platforms, making it possible to pay for utilities such as power, water, and gas, as well as other payments such as telephone or mobile, in a convenient manner”, P Venkatesh said.
Venkatesh added that various companies have been digitising the offices, this would lead to lesser costs and lesser time required for transactions.
“Some of India’s largest banks, including SBI, ICICI, and Axis, have begun digitising back-office processes. This would make them more cost-effective, lower the cost of services, make transactions easier, and reduce the time required to complete transactions. As a result, the large workforce involved in back-office processing would be reduced. It is still too early to know what the consequences will be, such as job losses and lost opportunities”, Venkatesh said.
Indian banking system has been majorly dominated by brick and mortar mechanisms. According told Venkatesh, “Given that our mobile penetration is over 80% and internet penetration is approaching 60%, it [banking penetration] is the question of telecom reach that would determine the access.”
He said that the decision of enabling core banking systems through post offices in India has been in the right direction.”With the exception of some pockets in Northeast India, India is progressing well in this direction, with post offices that have physical reach in close to 90 per cent of villages enabled through the core banking platform. This is a positive step because the rural elderly prefer physical access to virtual access. Mobile technologies are shifting toward a store-and-forward architecture that enables transaction execution in offline mode”, he added.
He also added that the store and forward architecture would allow for coverage of areas with poor internet signals. Venkatesh said, “Small value payments are covered, which cover household expenses. The agriculture platforms are still evolving though we have pockets for animal husbandry and cereal crops in pockets like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala. This needs to gain momentum to bring full value to the small and marginal farmers.”
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