Aadhaar card initiative a watershed event in development story of India: President

New Delhi: Stressing that India is on the cusp of a digital revolution, President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday highlighted the important of the Aadhar card initiative, saying it is a watershed event in development story of India.

"I am happy today to be a part of the digital payment movement that India has embarked upon. I congratulate each one of you who has contributed in this mission to make India a less cash society. This will help ensure financial inclusion where every Indian, irrespective of her socio-economic status, is empowered with necessary digital tools to participate in the new age economy," the President said on the occasion of mega draw of lot for Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana.

Stating that India has a long way to go to become a cash less society, the President said that the nation remains primarily a cash based economy with about 95 percent of the personal consumption and 86 percent of all transactions being in cash.

Expressing his happiness with the initiatives of the Centre in the matter, President Mukherjee further said that it is necessary to reduce cash in circulation and impart greater urgency to promoting secure digital payment methods to ensure greater transparency.

"India is on the cusp of a digital revolution. More than one billion Indians have a unique identity number with a biometric identifier which is unique in its own way. Even countries which are technologically far more advanced than India with comparatively much smaller size population do not have such a system in place. The Aadhaar card initiative is a watershed event in the development story of India," he said.

Further noting that the Aadhaar enabled payment system has made digital payments possible for even those sections of the population who may not have mobile phones, President Mukherjee added that the Centre has enabled development of new modes of digital payments with the goal to make their use easy and seamless across providers.

"Launch of BHIM has demystified the digital payments and brought it within the grasp of every citizen," he added.