Indian Achievement in Promoting Digital Payments has Disproved Sceptics: Nirmala Sitharaman

By: WE Staff | Thursday, 22 September 2022

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the use of digital payment methods in India has disproven the doubters. She praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's style of government and his faith in the people for this success while speaking on "20 years of Modi governance" in front of a group of BJP workers here.

People received money in their bank accounts simply by pressing a button during the shutdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, she claimed. "If they could not go to the bank or did not know how to take it, the bank Mitra went to the village and delivered their money," she said.

She remarked that at the same time frame, certain "advanced economies" would write (aid) cheques, place them in an envelope, and mail them to recipients. There have been some concerns about how electronic payments will function, particularly in rural regions where Internet access is spotty, but the finance minister claimed that "in spite of COVID India leads the world in UPI payments."

According to Sitharaman, Modi's philosophy of government, which begins with the tenet "trust our people, trust our industry, trust our women, and trust our families," was what made the difference. A UPA minister once said that it was impossible to make electronic payments widely accepted because "how would one pay Rs. 7 to a vegetable vendor electronically," she said. This uncertainty is no longer valid.

Every day a new corruption scandal would surface while the United Progressive Alliance, led by the Congress, was in power, but in the past eight years, no one has even "carelessly" accused the Modi government of corruption, according to the BJP senior. Sitharaman also discussed how the Modi administration has altered the characteristics of Padma award winners.

"We do not know any of them. They are picked from the hinterlands, from the corners of the country. They are great achievers themselves but we did not have time to recognise them. We did not know how to locate them. But Modiji's team locates every one of them," she said.

"Delivery is the story", the finance minister said, adding that there had been slogans like 'Garibi Hatao' and promises to provide things like potable water in the past. "But all that is getting fulfilled now, because here is a man (Modi) who is dedicated to the country," she quoted.