DBT helped save $ 27bn in key central schemes: Union Secretary Ajay Seth
Hyderabad: The Centre said India has saved over $ 27 billion in key government schemes through direct benefit transfer (DBT) as the transfers were direct, end-to-end and swift due to which there was little scope for corruption and leakages besides helping to remove names of duplicate and fake beneficiaries.
Delivering the keynote address at the second meeting of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion at HICC, here on Sunday, Ajay Seth, secretary, economic affairs, in the Union finance ministry, said that the indigenously created digital public infrastructure (DPI) is inherently scalable, interoperable, innovation-friendly and inclusive. DPI has transformed government to people, people to people and people to business interactions.
Stating that it was a challenge for the Centre to provide basic banking services to the entire population as banks found it unviable to open and operate a branch for a handful of remote customers, Seth said.
"Today, every bank branch is powered by the foundational DPI of eKYC, eSign for contracts, digital payments and financial data sharing for loan applications and it is in everyone's phone," he pointed out.
"In India, DPI-enabled DBT has emerged as a boon in providing succour and relief to millions of citizens, whose livelihood was impacted. The government was able to deliver vaccines and social protection services through DPI," Seth noted.
He stated that India's own DPI such as Aadhaar, UPI, date empowerment and protection architecture, open network for digital commerce and open credit enablement network have enabled the government to provide best of the class services to the last mile and the poorest of the poor.
In recent years, G20 has helped the world navigate through multiple shocks and continues to provide guidance on global economic coordination. India intends to further build upon it to make it even more relevant, especially for the global south, he said.
"India’s G-20 Presidency is thus an opportunity as well as a responsibility to encourage collective solutions and rebuild trust in multilateralism," Seth opined.
India stands ready to share its technical capabilities and knowledge resources for empowering people from the global south, he added.
