Are digital payments secure enough for the Indian economy to go cashless?

I agree that demonetization and promoting cashless economy was a bold initiative taken by the Modi government in November previous year to curb black money. But to some extent it was not planned well. First, it was not possible to curb the black money at international level because the money is in Euros and dollars. It is estimated that there is around 1.06 trillion dollars in the swiss bank alone. That is a huge sum of money, that still hasn't been recovered by the government. Second point is that the majority of population still relies on agriculture for their basic income. Everyone knows how much patience, time and effort including fertilizers, to buy equipment for agriculture. All of this is required to grow good quality of crops which farmers can only buy using cash as most of them are illiterate and they don't even know what is digital payment or cashless transaction. They are paid in the cash which they also use directly to buy the basic commodities. So, you can imagine what they would have faced during the period of demonetization leaving their farms behind and standing in large queues to withdraw money from the ATM. I would like to add up my personal experience it was like this: I was in an urgent need of money to 2, 000 rupees as my college is far from sector (and even going to sector requires money) and close to a village and I was not alone who was facing ill effects of demonetization, so I kept standing and waiting in the long queue for 4 hours and when I was on the verge of reaching the ATM the ATM went out of cash because of limited cash. So, it was like I wasted 4 hours for nothing. I was very exhausted that day. So it could have been better planned if our government have provided surplus amount of new currency and focused more on opening training centers to help farmers to learn about digital payment.

This question arose only after a major step taken by the government of India in the economy:Demonetisation. We are the eye witnesses to the answer whether this change is a turbulent or balanced one. The most important outcome of Demonetisation is digital payment system. We live in a country where only half the population have bank accounts, less than 40% population have smartphones, besides we lag behind in literacy rates in many parts of the country especially our rural population, so thinking of such a revolutionary idea is a colossal task.

But, our government's recent steps taken like opening of bank account on zero balance, launch of bhim app and several other offers on transaction by paytm and other digital payment app have increased people's involvement in digital payment.

The most important question is, are these payments secure and safe enough for every individual of the country among whom most of the people are either new to digitisation or do not feel it's safe to receive or make payments through a digital gateway. But, the country can choose to be cashless if we are able to create a digital payment system which is highly dependent and free of any data breaches. Privacy is a major concern in this technological era which is not given much priority in our country. The whole country is linked to The Aadhar system which is daily in news about its privacy issues. Digital payments require sensitive information of a person's account which ought to be handled with a secure gateway. The need of the hour is to create awareness among people about how to use the digital payment system and also to oust the trust issues among local retailers and rural people. A good governance and development in technical field is required to create a robust system which is secure enough for the people of our country to go cashless.

India being a developing country has achieved so much since independence.

It has advanced in every field technology, medicine and what not.
But being the country with largest population in the world.
There are so many hindrances.
The illiteracy rate and poverty rate is still very high.
Going cashless means each and every person has to depend on digital payments.
The people on whom we are dependent so much. The sabziwalas, the kamwalis, guards, koodawalas, thela walas, rickshawalas and so many people. Who receive so little amount and number Of times will never be comfortable to switch to digital payments.

Even people in rural areas have no or very less knowledge about banking, internet and digital platforms.

India in 2018 has achieved 100% supply all over the country.

Such areas which have received electricity now will take few years to achieve full awareness and.

Such remote areas where we even don't have network connectivity.

Have impossibility to go digital.

Seeing this lack of awareness.

Such people can be easily manipulated and exploited.

The security of digital payments can be easily breached.

Although India has been successful in implementing secured payment gateways which protects us from malicious activities.

But out there are more knowledgeable hackers and fraudsters.

Who are doing the business of fraud.

By stealing the Pin numbers, credit/debit card details, Online password, one time passwords (OTPs).

By tracking and keeping log of your activities.

Through various malwares, viruses and cookies.

India has achieved what not, maybe in future it will be able to achieve 100% secured digital payments.

But at this moment it cannot switch completely to digital payments and go cashless.

The need of the hour is to spread more awareness and knowledge about technology and avoid scams and frauds.

First of all, we have to accept the fact, that India is a developing country, not a developed one, so this period of demonitization is a tough time to all categories of people whether he\she is rich, poor, middle class, upper class, begger or billionaire. So according to me our country going cashless is a very very good idea it may take time but once its well organized and channelized the results will be beneficial.

The advantages of cashless India are:

1) It will put an end on black money transfer. Example colleges (specially medical colleges) demand a high donation. The one who are rich pay the donation even though their grades are low, but for the poor people with higher grades suffer due to this. As country will go cashless this owner can't take the money because transferring huge amount of money from bank is not possible and cash will not be available (as new currency is used).

2). People don't have to carry their money with them. They can have their money in mobile, iPad, tablets.

3) India will develop more because new techniques will be equipped by people to modify the whole system of money exchange.

4) People can know where their money is been transferred along with all required details.

5) We can transfer money without even going to bank or meeting the money receiver.

6) Government can directly receive the tax from bank transactions, which people don't pay offently as people were using more of cash then bank transactions.

Disadvantages.

1) Hackers is a big threat to cashless India.

2) Some people don't know how to use electronics and have to face many problems to run their day to day life.

Though it is tough time for our country but in coming years India will develop three times faster than previously and all the credits go to our Prime minister (Narendra Modi sir).

Digital Payment is secure and safe mode of payment. It encourage to go paperless. Because of digital Payment no restriction on time. Any time any where we can initiate the transaction. No need to go bank for small payment. After demonetization Paytm is on high boom if you see auto rickshaw or grocery shop person also using Digital payment, reason it is very convenient. They no need to worry about keeping physical funds at the end of the day. This was just an overview. We need to promote Digital Payment specially in Rural area. We have to take initiative start campaigning to educate the population how to do digital payment.

Now coming to security part of the digital payment. There are various ways you can keep yourself safe:-.

1. Always use trusted sites only and after completion of the transaction, click on log off button never close the page directly.

2. Never use with a name or user id similar to digital payment. For example shyam@123 likewise. Always use strong password configuration that should not be easily recognizable. Use a strong password with a mix of numbers, characters. Never share the password with anybody.

3. If you are doing the transaction through mobile then always keep your app lock and also refer point no. 1.

4. Check your mobile wallet statement carefully on a regular basis.

5. Download antivirus and anti-malware. Sometimes when we download some app there can be a chance virus occur and that can fetch details from your device so in that case keep your device activate with anti-virus and anti-malware.

Below are the points that you should never do:.

1. Don't use public Wi-Fi as hackers can steal login details.

2. Don't use one password for all wallets.

3. Don't download apps from the internet always download app from play store.

Yes, digital payments are secure enough for the Indian economy to go cashless because India is a developing country and if we see digital payments with this perspective then yes digital payment will reduce corruption, terror funding which has been proven as vindictive in the path of India to become developed. As we all know that digitalisation is one of the big leap taken by the government to get purge from vindictive things as I mentioned above. I'll summarize my points in the favour of digital payments.

1. India is developing country. So, digitalisation is one of the biggest move by PM Modi to make India a developed country in future.

2. Digital wallet is safe as compare to real wallet payment because we don't have to carry the large amount of money, credit or debit cards in our wallets.

3. It saves our time which we usually spend in standing in front of ATM and banks.

4. Digital payment is very useful in time of emergency. We don't have to rush for money in case of Emergency. We can do our payments directly through our smartphones.

5. As we all known that India is a second largest internet user in the world. So, digitalisation will prove beneficial for India.

As cyber crime is one of the biggest issues for India since many years but slowly cyber security is amending their protocol to reduce cyber crimes. And I believe that in future India will have strongest cyber security in the world and one of the safest cyber environment. It will affect dowry system of India at large extent. A decade ago mobile phones were also a new thing for India but now mobile technology grabs the large part of India urban as well as rural part. So, digitalisation will be possible in India and it is surely a bold move towards the corruption free India.

The question is are payments secure enough. The plain answer is Yes. They are secured enough and they are at par when compared with international standards. It's the people who are less aware.

For example, the government has made it mandatory that you will receive a text message if any transactions happen through your account. If we receive an unwanted message, it's out duty to take action against it asap, but we tend to ignore it man a times. We should not tell the OTP to anyone but still, people fall for the trap of scammers. The government has updated most of the debit and credit cards which are now having European-style chips which are safest type of cards available.

Government says that we should keep two accounts, one for keeping money and other with less balance for doing the transactions, so that if our card details are compromised, we don't lose all our money. People don't think like that, they maintain multiple accounts just to stay away from radar of tax department.

Also, credit cards are always considered less secure. It's a myth. Credit cards have all the safety features of that of a debit card. If we notice a fraud transaction using our card, we can tell the banks to stop the payment from settlement, which usually happens after 2 days. In case of debit cards, no one will care to listen once the transaction has taken place.

Now talking about hacks and online thefts. A person highly educated can only hack into the systems. I wonder why so much educated person will even bother doing so. Even if he does, in a cashless society, there is no use of stealing as he will be traced very fast. It will be very hard to dispose of the hacked money.

I believe that carrying a card is far more secure than carrying a bag of cash.

Although the Indian government and the corresponding relevant agencies have taken a lot of steps ahead in the field of digital security, security is an issue which will always be present. When there was only cash (no digital payments), the major security issue was a direct loss of cash through physical theft and burglary which required only physical strength and skill. This could be done locally by thieves and by physically being present. But at present, in the case of online payments, it requires a great amount of knowledge and skill for a fraudster to carry out a false transaction. But this does not require physical presence and our economy could be vulnerable globally which makes it difficult to track back to the criminals. This has led to an increase in smart cybercriminals, which requires the security agencies to be smarter. The hackers always try to find out new ways to breach security, which require our agencies to be on alert always. Although OTPs and PINs provide a high level of security, there are still ways to reach them.

As far as our India is concerned, it is ranked 23rd in the global cyber-security index. And it also ranks 3rd in the number of cyber threats faced (according to Symantec). So first of all, our country needs to increase the number of cyber-security officers, and their skill and intelligence before going completely cashless.

And as mentioned by our friends, the literacy rate in our country is not very high, especially in the field of cybersecurity. So I don't believe that India is still ready to go completely cashless, in spite of the innumerable advantages, due to the complex nature of risks involved. But I believe that a large part of our economy will become cashless in the coming five years.

Good afternoon!

The topic we got is are digital payments secure enough for the Indian economy to go cashless. Before starting the discussion let us understand the meaning of cashless. Cashless is one in which all the transactions are done using cards or digital means. The physical transaction is minimum. In India nearly less than 5% of transaction happen digitally, however, the finance minister in 2016 budget speech talked about making India cashless society with the main aim to reduce corruption. I would like to say that every coin has two sides. Even this has two sides it has its own pros and cons.

Some pros are.

1) 1in 7 notes are fake which causes a -ve impact on the Indian economy by doing digital payments this can be avoided.

2) time spent near the atms can be reduced.

3) there will be greater efficiency in welfare programs as the fund will be directly transferred to the account of the recipient.

4) reduces cost operation at the atms.

Some cons are.

1) the main problem is that people are not aware especially senior citizens and rural people about what is happening in digital transaction due to this they fall in the trap call fraud where without knowingly they give there account no and lose their money.

Even educated people are falling in this trap.

2) availability of internet.

3) people don't have sufficient facilities to use electronic items.

Though the government is trying its best recently it introduced an app called Bhim where all transaction are made digital. It introduced mobile wallets apart from this it should also educate people about it so that they can use it through thy have launched jan dhan yojana but all are lying unopened. It might take time to go cashless bot it is nt impossible.

According to my opinion, stepping ahead towards cashless economy is one of the biggest step taken by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Here a cashless economy does not mean "a economy without cash", but it simply means an economy where the transaction of cash via physical means (hand to hand) is less and it is mostly carried out by digital means (e- banking, mobile wallet, cards etc). One of the major reason for adopting cashless economy by our government is to curb the black money of our country and thereby making every transaction visible in the eyes of the government. This will not only help the individuals in saving money but also it will help the government to increase their revenue by tax collection. India, being a developing country, it is easier for the youth to understand the ways of going cashless and to some extent the senior citizens also. Our government should make several campaigns specially for the rural sectors to make them understand the benefit of going cashless and thereby taking adequate steps to implement the less cash economy to the rural sectors. There are several disadvantages too, it`s more than impossible for the people of below poverty level to go cashless because the most important device to go cashless is a " smart phone" which is not affordable for this category of people, moreover there are several hackers all around the world to take advantage of this digital environment. People can`t use such technology for transaction of smaller amounts such as 1, 2, 5 rupees, these are some crucial points on which the government should look upon and take initiative, but in our country where 50% of the people are urbanized, its always preferred to have a cashless transaction. Thank you.