‘Pace of digital transactions impressive’

Infosys chairman and Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani has said that fears about leak of data from Aadhaar base are misplaced.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the global digital summit, #FUTURE, organised by the Kerala government here, he said that the upcoming data protection law would address such fears.

The Union government has constituted an expert committee headed by B.N. Srikrishna, former judge of the Supreme Court, to go into issues related to data protection and the growth of digital economy.

The pace of digital transactions in the country is great, and the number of transactions through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is expected to touch one billion by the end of the year, he said.

Helping digital economy

The digital empowerment architecture will help the process of the growth of digital economy, helping the country in a big way, Mr. Nilekani observed, adding that the growing digital payment business offered big opportunities to Indian entrepreneurs.

He claimed that India was creating digital data infrastructure in a way that would empower entrepreneurs. Around 1.2 billion people use Aadhaar, and the Aadhaar-linking of bank accounts had helped in the direct transfer of benefits to beneficiaries and saved substantial amount of money for the government.

The new digital technology thus has great implications for the nation’s economy as it helps prevent spillage. There is also a proposal, he said, for electricity, where power will be supplied at market rate, and the beneficiaries will be granted subsidy through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. Such as system will help the process of unbundling utilities.