With the minister giving a push towards financial literacy in rural areas, ATMs and micro ATMS in post offices and increased allocation under the MUDRA Scheme, remittance companies and Fintech companies believe that would be the next forefront of growth for most of them.
“The overall direction of the budget is right especially with the push being towards digital literacy in rural areas. Making Aadhar mandatory to help in money transfer is also a positive step for financial inclusion,” said Pramod Saxena, Chairman, Oxigen Payments Services.
While digital literacy is extremely essential, the push towards ATMs and micro ATMs in rural areas through the post offices seem to be a push on the right direction bringing cheer among the domestic remittances companies.
Saxena added that it should not be restricted to the post offices, withdrawal from micro ATMs should also be allowed from the retailers as well. “We had already proposed to the Indian Banking Association about a $300 micro ATM much cheaper than a full-fledged ATM which costs upwards of $5,000.”
On the topic of tax rebates for startups Bank Bazaar CEO Adhil Shetty said that these were already announced during the Startup India initiative of the government. However he mentioned that with the mood of the government being pro-startup, the Fintech space would be looking at the next monetary policy review for some tangible regulation related relaxation from the Reserve Bank.
Domestic remittance company PayPoint, Managing Director Ketan Doshi said, “The fact that the minister has mentioned that he would attempt to rationalise the TDS provision as per the Income Tax Act is encouraging for small tax players like us, whose working capital gets stuck due to TDS norms.”
Sashank Rishyasringa, Co-Founder of Capital Float which, as an online NBFC and lends specifically to the MSME sector said that the increased budgetary allocation of the PM’s MUDRA scheme meant that there would be a big boost coming from the government for lending in this sector which is in the priority sector lending of the government.
Rounding up the general mood, Mobikwik Co-Founder Bipin Preet Singh said, “At some stage, we expect the government to provide a detailed outline of the role digital payments would play towards a cash free Indian economy. The expectation now is to see some on-the-ground, real action.”
Source: The Economic Times