. s. economy by continuing to add to the federal reserve ’ s holdings of longer - term securities. accordingly, the committee continued to reduce the pace of asset purchases over the course of the year, ending its purchases in october. that step, however, did not mark an immediate shift toward tighter monetary policy because we also indicated then that we did not expect to raise interest rates for a considerable time after the end of our securities purchases. moreover, as the committee explained in a set of “ normalization principles ” issued that september, the intention was to maintain the overall size of the federal reserve ’ s balance sheet at an elevated level until sometime after the fomc had begun to raise its target for the federal funds rate. 9 we decided that maintaining a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy remained appropriate because, while the u. s. economy was stronger and closer to meeting our statutory goals, we saw significant room for improvement. in particular, the unemployment rate still stood above our assessment of its longer - run normal level — that is, the unemployment rate that we expect to prevail when the economy is operating at maximum employment — and inflation remained below the 2 percent objective. because my colleagues and i expected that labor market conditions would continue to improve and that inflation would move back to 2 percent over the medium term, we anticipated that the time was approaching when the economy would be strong enough that we should start to scale back our support. indeed, the fomc ’ s june 2014 summary of economic projections ( sep ) reported that nearly all fomc participants saw a higher federal funds rate as appropriate in the next calendar year. in contrast, only two participants in december 2013 thought that it would be appropriate to start raising that rate in the next calendar year. 3 / 8 bis central bankers'speeches uneven progress in 2015 and into 2016 in 2015, the unemployment rate fell significantly faster than we generally had anticipated in 2014. however, a series of unanticipated global developments beginning in the second half of 2014 — including a prolonged decline in oil prices, a sizable appreciation of the dollar, and financial market turbulence emanating from abroad — ended up having adverse implications for the outlook for inflation and economic activity in the united states, prompting the fomc to remove monetary policy accommodation at a slower pace than we had anticipated in mid - 2014. u. s. gross domestic product ( gdp ) growth generally surprised to the downside in 2015, reflecting, in part, weak

mode with enhancing efficiency in terms of reduced waiting time at toll plazas. the national automated clearing house ( nach ) system has also facilitated government direct benefit transfers ( dbt ) payments digitally and eliminating leakages in the system. the smooth release of dbt benefits by the prime minister to 8. 34 crore farmers under the pm - kisan scheme is a testimony to the reliance and deliverability of our payment systems. 6. we have taken steps for internationalisation of our payment systems and cross border linkage of fast payment systems of india and singapore i. e. upi - paynow. this linkage is in addition to the qr code based and upi enabled p2m payments already 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches happening in bhutan, singapore and uae. recently, we also enabled the visitors from g20 counties to be onboarded to upi without having a bank account in india. through this initiative, the g20 delegates had a first - hand experience of making merchant payments seamlessly through the upi, during their stay in india. 7. the mission " har payment digital " is aimed at reinforcing the ease and convenience of digital payments and facilitate onboarding of new consumers into the digital fold. various campaigns highlighting the digital payment channels available are being planned by the banks and non - bank payment system operators. this will further encourage and support the adoption of digital payments in the country. i am also happy to note that our regional offices will be taking up jan bhagidari activities to promote the acceptance and use of digital payments under the g20 theme of promoting digital public infrastructure during indian presidency. 8. the message of " digital payment apnao, auron ko bhi sikhao " – " adopt digital payments and also teach others " – under the mission har payment digital – is very relevant and expected to create greater awareness and usage among the people. 9. once consumers are onboarded to the digital payments'ecosystem, its advantages – availability, convenience, speed and safety – would ensure customer satisfaction and lead to furthering digital payments. the message is in sync with the payments vision 2025 of the rbi, i. e. " e - payments for everyone, everywhere, everytime ". significantly, inclusion has been identified as one of the anchors under the vision and various activities proposed now will help facilitate the same. 10. we have also decided to initiate a 75 digital villages programme through adoption of 75 villages and involvement of