Lok Sabha Question No. 2867 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-11
Subject: Digital Payments
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Sumedhanand Saraswati

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2867

TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.03.2020

## DIGITAL PAYMENTS

## 2867:

SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARASWATI :

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the number of digital payments in the country has increased significantly and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the number of digital payments made during each of the last three years, State/UT-wise;
- (c)  whether  the  Union  Government  has  conducted  any  comparative  study  with  regard  to digital payments in other countries;
- (d) if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
- (e) whether appropriate steps have been taken by the Government for security and safety of various platforms for digital transactions in the country; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

- (a) and(b): Yes, Sir. Digital payment transactions have observed a significant growth over the last three years. State/UT-wise transaction details are not maintained, however total number of Digital transactions undertaken in the country during the last three years and current year is as under
- (c)  and  (d):  The  Reserve  Bank  of  India  (RBI)  released  a  report  on  'Benchmarking  India's Payment Systems', which provides a comparative position of the payment system ecosystem in  India relative to  comparable payment systems and usage trends in other major countries (ref. URL: https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS\_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=47222 for Press Release dated 04.06.2019 by RBI and aforesaid report).

| Financial Year (FY)               |   Total number of Digital Transactions (Crores) |
|-----------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| FY 2016-17                        |                                            1004 |
| FY 2017-18                        |                                            2071 |
| FY 2018-19                        |                                            3134 |
| FY 2019-20 (till 27 th Feb 2020)* |                                            3649 |

The study found that India has a strong regulatory system and robust large value and retail payment systems which have contributed to the rapid growth in the volume of transactions in these payment systems. There has been substantial growth in e-payments by Government and also  in  digital  infrastructure  in  terms  of  mobile  networks.  The  report,  however,  notes  that India  is  required  to  take  further  efforts  to  bring  down  the  volume  of  paper  clearing  and increase acceptance infrastructure to enhance digital payments.

(e): Yes, Sir.

(f):    Government  has  taken  following  measures  to  enhance  the  cyber  security  posture  of digital payment systems:

-  The  Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response  Team  (CERT-In)  issues  alerts  and advisories regarding latest cyber threats and countermeasures on regular basis to ensure safe usage of digital technologies. Regarding securing digital payments, 28 advisories have been issued for users and institutions.
-  All authorized entities/ banks issuing PPIs (Pre Paid Instruments) in the country have  been  advised  by  CERT-In  through  Reserve  Bank  of  India  to  carry  out special audit by empanelled auditors of CERT-In on a priority basis and to take immediate steps  thereafter  to  comply  with  the  findings  of  the  audit  report  and ensure implementation of security best practices.
-  Government  has  issued  guidelines  for  Chief Information  Security  Officers (CISOs) regarding their key roles and responsibilities for securing applications / infrastructure and compliance.
-  Government  has  empanelled  90  security  auditing  organisations  to  support  and audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
-  Government has formulated Crisis Management Plan for countering cyber attacks and cyber terrorism for implementation by all Ministries/ Departments of Central Government, State Governments and their organizations and critical sectors.
-  Cyber security mock drills are being conducted regularly to enable assessment of cyber  security  posture  and  preparedness  of  organizations  in  Government  and critical sectors. 44 such drills have so far been conducted by CERT-In where 265 organizations from different States and sectors such as Finance, Defence, Power, Telecom, Transport, Energy, Space, IT/ITeS, etc participated. Out of these drills, 9 drills were conducted in coordination with the Reserve Bank of India and The Institute  for  Development  and  Research  in  Banking  Technology  for  financial sector organizations.
-  CERT-In conducts regular training programmes for network / system administrators and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) of Government and  critical  sector  organisations  regarding  securing  the  IT  infrastructure  and mitigating cyber attacks.
-  Government  has  launched  the  Cyber  Swachhta  Kendra  (Botnet  Cleaning  and Malware  Analysis  Centre).  The  centre  is  providing  detection  of  malicious programs and free tools to remove the same.
-  Under the Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) Project Phase-I (2005-2014),  more  than  44,000  candidates  were  trained  in  various  formal/nonformal  courses  in  Information  Security  through  40  institutions.  Around  100 Government officials were trained as Master Trainers in the area of Information Security

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