Country still not ready for digital banking, says FM

The country is still not ready for digital banking and yet to gear up for it, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday.

“We are still at a stage where we need several brick and mortar branches and touch points. It is because of the nature and the manner our economy functions,” Jaitley said after inaugurating digital banking initiatives of Vijaya Bank.

He also expressed hope that some day the technology will take over.

“Then entire banking would be part of your smartphone. And the existence of brick and mortar structures itself may not be as required as it is today. But then we as a society have to see those changes,” he added.

Defending the demonetisation move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said that the government could not have let status quo remain in such a case as cash, according to him, creates ‘problems’ in society.

“India was quite a high cash-usage society. And cash-user societies have their own pitfalls. There are both social and economic costs involved with the excessive usage of the cash,” he said. He also said that the usage of cash is directly proportional to the problems in the society.

“Cash itself has anonymity. When it operates in the economy, its ownership is not so easily identified.”

He also blamed the tax evasion and cover-up on this anonymity. He inaugurated Vijaya Bank’s 100 Branches, 100 Digital Villages and 100 ATMs.

On this occasion, Vijaya Bank under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, adopted 100 girl children belonging to SC/ ST/ OBC and economically weaker sections of the society in the age group of five years and above, wherein the bank will bear their educational expenses up to post graduation level.