More choice makes less cash possible.

By allowing competition, payments will benefit from a “race-to-the-top” in security, innovation, technology, services and lower cost as companies compete in a free market.

The Government of India is demonstrating great leadership in establishing a vision for a modern, less cash economy. India has an enormous economic opportunity and the Government understands the importance of less cash as an effective way to build an economy for the future. The Confederation for All India Traders (CAIT) supports this vision and the opportunity to open up new markets and customers for merchants and traders and to empower and grow the middle class and the consumer base in India. CAIT is fully committed to working with the government to make less cash India a reality. But CAIT believes it is critical to preserve a free and open competitive market for electronic payments and a fundamental right of choice in payment options as central to achieving this goal.

The pursuit of a less cash India depends on ensuring that all consumers and merchants have a wide variety of innovative payment products to choose from. By allowing competition, payments will benefit from a “race-to-the-top” in innovation, technology, services and lower cost as companies compete in a free market. But there are some in government who advocate limiting the choice of payment options to the government-run payments system, RuPay. While RuPay has achieved success in providing a more efficient delivery mechanism for government benefits and tackling the problem of financial inclusion, it is not adequate to replace other payment options for merchants and traders. RuPay should be a welcome competitor in the payments market but it should not be given a government-imposed monopoly. CAIT is committed to supporting all electronics payments choices – not just the government option. This is good for our businesses and it is good for India.

A less cash India only works if it achieves the greatest amount of connectivity and optionality where consumers benefit from having choices that drive competition in the market, creating better security, better innovation, and lower costs. This gives consumers more buying power and results in the increase of sales for businesses. This is the less cash economy India aspires to achieve and that CAIT will tirelessly support.