86 percent of Indians say they will make digital payments this year, while the country’s digital payments market will be worth $500 bln by 2020.
Statistics reported by Quartz today show the fledgling sector, which benefited from India’s cash crackdown in November 2016, has enormous potential - and Blockchain could play a key role.
“Using Blockchain makes transactions secure, unhackable and transparent. It takes out the middleman, provides real-time online transactions, and data is safe,” Rajashekara Maiya, associate vice-president and head of product strategy at financial data giant Finacle, said in an interview with the publication.
The Indian government is pushing for a major reduction in untraceable cash transactions, with digital biometric-enabled payment methods as a key replacement option.
Correspondingly, Maiya is closely eyeing the technology.
“Finacle has spoken to many academics who’ve conducted fundamental research in Blockchain (and) Silicon Valley startup companies,” he continued.
“It helps us in terms of changing the paradigm of payments—especially cross-border payments—and the digital identity of a customer. We’ve trained around 40 of our staff, who we call the ‘Blockchain black bench,’ to use their knowledge to create solutions.”
India is set to regulate cryptocurrency in the near future as the medium becomes an attractive investment alternative for those lacking faith in governmental economic policy since the currency reforms.