Demonitisation, GST to transform India's business outlook

Deepak Kumar

The government has recently taken two transformational initiatives – demonitisation to promote a cashless society and GST to uniform the country’s tax regime – which will affect a lot of people, a senior government official said.

 

The government is working towards a cashless society, and the use of electronics devices will help us achieve the objective, said P P Chaudhary, Minister of State for Electronics & IT.

 

Currently, 102 crore mobiles are being used in the country, but a very small percentage of population is using mobile banking on their cell phone. Nearly 83 crore people live in the rural areas, and very few use their mobile phones for any transactional purpose, which is why it is important for the government to educate the masses that they can use their mobile phones for making online transactions, rather than just making phone calls, he said, addressing e-Governance & Digital India summit organised by ASSOCHAM.

 

Chaudhari underscored that the facilities are available, required infrastructure is available; now the time has come for people to make use of the facilities. Underlining that a lot needs to be done to improve infrastructure in the country, he urged the industry and all the stakeholders to work closely with the government to make “Digital India” a reality.

 

He asked the industry to focus on innovation to develop technology which reaches every home. He indicated that in a country like India, where a significant percentage of population is living below the poverty line, it is important to develop technology keeping in mind the three paramount factors – cost, speed and scale.

 

Highlighting some of the initiatives taken by the government to bridge the gap between the people and the government through usage of technology, he said the government has facilitated e-Governance facility to make the communication easier however, he emphasised that e-Governance needs to be more proactive in terms of providing multifarious support to the people.

 

Striking a similar chord with the government, TRAI Chairman R S Sharma said there is a major need to enhance broadband connectivity in the country. India, which boasts of some of the world’s largest telecom service providers, still has just about 7% internet penetration in the country, whereas some of the smaller countries such as Vietnam has 30% penetration, Thailand (35%) penetration, Malaysia (about 35%), Singapore (around 90%).

 

TRAI has given several recommendations to the government to enhance broadband connectivity in the country. As the government has already been taking adequate steps, Sharma hoped, that it would continue to engage the industry and make collective efforts for a better connected India.