 "India's cashless push to aid entry of 400 million people into formal economy: Nandan Nilekani")
Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani said that the government's move last month to remove Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes as legal tender will accelerate the push for the next 400 million Indians to enter the formal economy, even if it has short term repercussions.
Speaking at the Carnegie India Global Technology Summit in Bengaluru on Wednesday, Nilekani said that the move begins the "long march towards a formal economy".
In turn this would boost the domestic services market which will be a key driver for India's economy.
Nilekani, who had served as the chairman of India's Unique Identity Authority of India was last week appointed as a member of a high-level NITI Aayog committee that will work to promote digital payments in India. Apart from being heralded as the brainchild behind UID, he has also worked extensively on India Stack that includes the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) that allows users to transfer even small amounts on smartphones to other account holders.
Since November 8, the government's narrative has shifted from a move to curb black money to transform India into a cashless society.
"So fundamentally India's route cannot be globalisation but domestic services and inside the domestics services trend you have to bring 400 million people into the formal economy. In some sense this will accelerate that and I think putting that legal framework into place is so critical. It's an onboarding ramp to get all those people into the formal economy," said Nilekani.