Читать книгу The Political Economy of the BRICS Countries - Группа авторов - Страница 105

A key element of the inclusion story is the use of technology. Three major developments have brought technology in a big way into the inclusion initiative. The first is the decision by the Reserve Bank to appoint Business Correspondents — extension agents of the banks to deal with small-ticket transactions and reach out to people in rural and remote areas. On the one hand, the Reserve Bank allowed banks to appoint agents, and on the other, mandated banks to have a point of presence in all locations with a minimum threshold population. The second initiative has been the use of biometric identification (Aadhaar). This has enabled the provision of a unique identity to each individual. The third is the mapping of Aadhaar numbers to the bank accounts, thereby becoming a base for technology-enabled banking. This has permitted two significant value additions. First, it has lowered the transaction costs of delivering targeted benefits by the government: the PAHAL scheme of transferring LPG subsidies has already reduced leakages by 24%; the potential annual savings is expected to be roughly of the order of INR 127 billion (Government of India, 2016). Second, the process has permitted to eliminate ‘ghost’ and duplicate households from beneficiary rolls. Contextually, it may be mentioned that G2P payments have been extensively employed across countries, with varying degrees of success.