Budget 2019 expectations for E-KYC, Aadhaar, ATMs and cashless transactions

Budget 2019: There are big expectations from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's first Budget on July 5. While the budget is expected to put more emphasis on infrastructure, rural sector and housing, the Fintech sector is also hopeful of a big boost from the annual financial statement. Sameer Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, RevFin, told Zee Business Online that Budget should provide more clarity on E-KYC process through Aadhaar. 

Aggarwal said, "E-KYC using Aadhar should be allowed for certain types of organisations. This includes utilities (gas, electricity, internet, phone etc) and financial services (banks, NBFCs, insurance etc). The policy must clearly state requirements in terms of process, technology infrastructure and data security. Companies satisfying the criteria must be given full access to e KYC services without the need to make large security deposits or the need to go through intermediaries."

RevFin is a FinTech company providing an advanced digital lending platform that makes getting a loan convenient and accessible to its customers.

Mandar Agashe of Sarvatra Technology said subsidies and reards should be provided to vendors for setting up ATMs and PoS. 

"Considering the high costs involved in sustaining the ATM infrastructure across the country the government should encourage vendors for the deployment of POS based Micro ATMs through subsidies and rewards. Besides providing incentives and tax benefits to merchants and financial institutions hosting digital payments will help accelerate the adoption phase," Agashe said. 

Agashe further said that Budget 2019 should encourage interoperability across new age platforms with the help of an agile technological infrastructure which will facilitate the economy’s smooth transition from cash to cashless. 

Aggarwal also called for the Budget to boost financial inclusion for increasing awareness about digital payments. "The government must launch a national education program (like pulse polio or hum do humare do) to educate the country on benefits of digital payments. This must be done through private partnerships by extending tax benefits to small traders taking digital payments. National and state curriculum must also have financial literacy as a subject which should include practical classes taken by financial services companies." he said.