Merchant Digitization Summit 2021

In News: FICCI and UN-based Better Than Cash Alliance hosted Merchant Digitization Summit 2021.

Theme-Towards Atma Nirbhar (Self Reliance) Bharat with a special focus on Himalayan Regions, North East Regions and Aspirational Districts of India.

Key Highlights

The Summit brought together leaders from the public and private sectors to accelerate responsible digitization of merchants in India’s North-Eastern and Himalayan regions and Aspirational districts.
It focused on empowering women merchants who play critical roles in their communities.
This Summit is part of the series of Learning Exchange amongst all States and Union Territories under which DEA had also co-organized the webinar titled “Unlocking the value of Fintech in promoting Digital Payments’.

There was the consensus during the event that an industry-level approach was required to address the unique and fundamental challenges including gender targeting in national, regional and state-level merchant initiatives.

The participants agreed that the National Language Translation Mission can be used to disseminate digital payments information, privacy clauses and consent in local languages for trust and empowerment.
They also identified opportunities to address the challenges of connectivity, access to smartphones, and digital literacy for merchants at the last mile.
From an average of 2-3 billion digital transactions monthly, India has set an ambitious target for 1 billion digital transactions per day.
- Person to merchant (P2M) digital payment transactions will scale to 10-12 billion transactions every month to contribute to India’s digital economy.
Suggestions –
- Along with the increased focus on ‘Make in India’ through Atma Nirbhar Bharat Scheme, responsible digitization must more strongly include rural networks such as Self Help Groups and community enablers.
  - This will create local digital ecosystems to help millions of merchants join the formal economy, access credit, and grow their business.”

Better Than Cash Alliance

It is a partnership of governments, companies, and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to responsible digital payments to help achieve Sustainable Development Goals.
It is based at the United Nations.
It has 75 members which are committed to digitizing payments in order to boost efficiency, transparency, women’s economic participation and financial inclusion, helping build economies that are digital and inclusive.
- Members do not want to abolish physical cash – it is legal tender – but rather want to provide responsible digital payment options that are “better than cash”.

India became a member of the Better Than Cash Alliance in 2015 to digitize payments to achieve financial inclusion and to share success stories from Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the world’s largest financial inclusion program.
- The alliance is working with several state governments towards the goal of building knowledge and programs where people, governments, and businesses can make and receive digital payments.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)

It was established in 1927
It is the largest and oldest apex business organisation in India.
Its history is closely interwoven with India’s struggle for independence, its industrialization, and its emergence as one of the most rapidly growing global economies.
It is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation.
It serves its members from the Indian private and public corporate sectors and multinational companies, drawing its strength from diverse regional chambers of commerce and industry across states, reaching out to over 2,50,000 companies.
FICCI provides a platform for networking and consensus building within and across sectors and is the first port of call for Indian industry, policymakers and the international business community.

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