Mumbai: A jump has been seen in unified payment interface (UPI) transactions. Keeping this in mind, digital economy professor Arvind Gupta claimed Wednesday that the shift to this UPI transactions has helped India save over 0.10 per cent of GDP from going out of the country. It should however, be said that Arvind Gupta is closely aligned with the ruling BJP. He spearheaded BJP’s national technology department for three consecutive terms.
The uptick in transactions touched 1.8 billion in September. It has also helped the economy from an ‘enablement’ perspective, Gupta told reporters.
The comments come amid a 10 per cent surge in UPI transactions by quantum of money transacted to Rs 3.29 lakh crore in September as against August this year, as more people switch to digital payments amid the pandemic.
“From the research hat that I wear, I can tell you that the initial study suggests that just by using UPI payments, we have saved upwards of 0.10 per cent of GDP which remains back in India,” Gupta said at an event organised by the fintech ‘Earlysalary’.
Without elaborating on the research methodology or specifying the period in which the gains were made, Gupta added that the UPI has ‘enabled’ another 0.10-0.15 per cent of economy every year and termed the same as an incredible achievement.
Before UPI, which was indigenously developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), India depended on foreign-owned payments platforms. There were concerns raised about money going out as a result of reliance on such platforms.
“India has seen a remarkable move towards a truly digital-first approach. We have seen the highest digitalisation in the past six months ever,” Gupta said.
A profile posted on the World Economic Forum’s website says Gupta led the digital, social media and communication campaign for the BJP and Narendra Modi in the 2014 polls. He has also served as the chief executive of ‘Mygov.in’ and is the head of ‘Digitalindia Foundation’.
NPCI COO Praveena Rai spoke at the same event. He said all the stakeholders, including regulators, policymakers and merchants are becoming more open to digitisation now. He exuded confidence that they will embrace it more.
‘Earlysalary’ launched Wednesday a ‘salary card’ to meet the growing demand for digital credit in collaboration with the NPCI for instant loans. The card offers flexibility of setting up a dynamic credit limit for shopping, medical, travel, entertainment and other needs, as per a statement.