Mumbai, October 14: Amid the jump seen in unified payment interface (UPI) transactions, a digital economy professor closely aligned with the ruling BJP on Wednesday claimed that the shift to this mode has helped India save over 0.10 per cent of GDP from going out of the country.

The uptick in transactions, which touched 1.8 billion in September, has also helped the economy from an "enablement" perspective, Arvind Gupta, a professor of digital economy who spearheaded BJP's national technology department for three consecutive terms, told reporters. WhatsApp Pay Gets NPCI Clearance, Facebook-Owned App’s UPI Based Digital Payment Services to Be Launched in Phased Manner in India.

The comments come amid a 10 per cent surge in UPI transactions by quantum of money transacted to Rs 3.29 lakh crore in September as against August this year, as more people switch to digital payments amid the pandemic.

"From the research hat that I wear, I can tell you that the initial study suggests that just by using UPI payments, we have saved upwards of 0.10 per cent of GDP which remains back in the country," Gupta said at an event organised by the fintech Earlysalary.

Without elaborating on the research methodology or specifying the period in which the gains were made, Gupta added that the UPI has "enabled" another 0.10-0.15 per cent of economy every year and termed the same as an incredible achievement.

Before UPI, which was indigenously developed by the National Payments Corporation of India, the country depended on foreign-owned payments platforms and the constant concerns are being raised about money going out as a result of reliance on such platforms.

"India has seen a remarkable move towards a truly digital-first approach. We have seen the highest digitalisation in the past six months ever," Gupta said.

A profile posted on the World Economic Forum's website says Gupta led the digital, social media and communication campaign for the BJP and Narendra Modi in the 2014 polls. He has also served as the chief executive of Mygov.in and is the head of Digital India Foundation.

Speaking at the same event, NPCI Chief Operating Officer Praveena Rai said all the stakeholders, including regulators, policymakers and merchants, are becoming more open to digitisation now and exuded confidence that they will embrace it more. Google Pay Doesn’t Share Customer Data With Any Third Party Outside Payments Flow, Confirms Google.

Consumer lending platform Earlysalary on Wednesday launched a 'salary card' to meet the growing demand for digital credit in collaboration with the NPCI for instant loans. The card offers flexibility of setting up a dynamic credit limit for shopping, medical, travel, entertainment and other needs, as per a statement.

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