Nuggets has the potential help accelerate India towards a cashless society

Nuggets has the potential help accelerate India towards a cashless society

The Access India Programme (AIP) has recruited blockchain-based e-commerce payments and identity platform, Nuggets, to its ranks in a bid to accelerate India’s move towards a cashless society.

Launched by the High Commission of India in London in partnership with the UK India Business Council in 2017, AIP is a scheme which provides support to high-potential UK businesses seeking to establish a presence in India.

It identifies UK SMEs using innovative technologies and helps them establish themselves within the Indian economy. Selected companies receive a range of services, from mentorship to networking and market-entry support.

According to Nuggets, the country has only recently moved away from making 80 per cent of payments in cash, with 60 per cent of the population unbanked, and its platform offers “compelling potential” for the Indian economy.

India’s GDP is forecast to grow by 7.4 per cent in 2018, and the economy is set to overtake both the UK and France in size over the next few years. A platform, which enables simple, secure e-commerce payments, has “obvious value” in accelerating India’s move towards a cashless society, the company claims.

“We are delighted to welcome Nuggets to our flagship AIP programme,” said Manish Singh, economic minister with the High Commission of India in London. “Nuggets is exactly the sort of product we look for: exceptionally innovative, delivered in a way that can empower an entire population.”

India’s move to cashless is reportedly already under way. IndiaStack, for example, is a programme aiming to combine APIs and software on a single platform, and to use cutting-edge technology to develop a new cashless infrastructure. It already includes protocols such as eKYC and UPI, and potentially could add Nuggets to its ranks.

“Nuggets is a global payments and identity platform. Having support like this from the Indian High Commission will help our expansion efforts immeasurably,” added Seema Khinda Johnson, COO and co-founder of Nuggets.

“We’re proud to have been selected for this programme. We’ve always believed in the power of our technology to empower consumers and boost economies. That’s especially true in such a vibrant, tech-focused environment as contemporary India.”

If you like this, you might be interested in reading the following:

HPE aims to enhance safety for Indian citizens via smart cities

HPE’s Universal IoT platform will play a key role in the integrated command and control centre

Read more

HPE and PwC plan to power future cities

Located in Kolkata, the CoE will enable IoT applications to provide advanced analytics and machine learning innovations

Read more

Reforms vital for delivery of India’s smart cities project

20 cities given funding to start the quest to be smart

Read more