Task force submits report on Aadhaar-enabled payment infrastructure

The task force on Aadhaar-enabled unified payment infrastructure has suggested the inclusion of beneficiaries of all social safety net programmes under the electronic payment mode.

Nandan Nilekan, chairman UIDAI and the task force submitted the final report on the Aaadhar-enabled unified payment infrastructure to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi today.

Payments to beneficiaries of programmes like MGNREGS, SSP, JSY, IAY, scholarships, etc, and direct subsidy transfer payments to consumers of LPG, fertilisers, kerosene etc could thus be made directly into accounts of their choice at either banks or post offices.

Frontline development workers such as schoolteachers, anganwadi workers, ASHA workers etc, who often do not receive their salaries in time, can also receive their salaries by direct deposit into their accounts at banks and post offices, the task force said.

It also recommended creation of a network of 10,00,000 interoperable micro ATMs operated by business correspondents to be set up across the country for people to access their accounts at their own convenience.

For faster implementation of this network, the task force has recommended that a last mile transaction fee of 3.14 per cent with a cap of Rs20 per transaction be paid by the government to banks for government payments. This will also lead to positive network externalities such as reduction in leakages and achieving financial inclusion, it said.