Debit, credit cards, ATMs will be redundant in 4 yrs: Niti CEO

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Saturday said debit and credit cards as well as ATMs will be redundant in next three-four years and people will use their mobile phones for financial transactions.

He further said that with India being a country where 72 % population is below 32 years of age, it will have an advantage over other regions like the US and Europe in terms of demographic dividend.

"India will make credit cards, debit cards and ATMs technologically redundant in next 3-4 years and we all will be using mobiles for doing many transactions," Kant said at Amity University Noida campus where he was felicitated with an honorary doctorate degree.

Kant said that India is the only country in the world with billion biometrics and as many mobile phones and bank accounts and therefore, in future, it will be the only nation which will make a lot of disruptions.

More financial transactions will be done on mobile phones and this trend is already rising spirally, he said.

"India is growing at around 7.5 per cent per annum and it is an oasis of growth in the midst of a very barren economic landscape across the world but our challenge is to grow at even higher rates of 9-10 per cent," Kant said.