NITI Aayog and Mastercard release report titled ‘Connected Commerce: Creating a Roadmap for a Digitally Inclusive Bharat’

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) and Mastercard published a report under the title of ‘Connected Commerce: Creating a Roadmap for a Digitally Inclusive Bharat’ which looks at the challenges to promote digital financial inclusion in India and identifies recommendations to provide digital services to 1.3 billion citizens. The insights of the report hinges on the outcomes of a series of discussions that were convened virtually round these topics: accelerating the next phase of digital financial inclusion, enabling global opportunities for micro, small and medium-sized companies (MSMEs), inspiring trust and security in digital commerce, preparing India’s agri enterprises for connected commerce, and robust transit systems for smart cities. Such discussions were attended by different stakeholders including government leaders and experts from banks, the financial regulator, fintech enterprises and various ecosystem innovators. To accelerate digital financial inclusion, the report suggests that market players need to ‘address this gap on the demand side by creating user-friendly digital products and services that encourage the behavioral transition from cash to digital.’