An official from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has advocated for the mandatory adoption of QR codes by merchants as a means to significantly promote digital payments across the nation. Gopalakrishnan S, the Joint Secretary overseeing the data protection Bill drafting process, emphasized the need for interoperable QR codes in all establishments, suggesting that businesses with substantial turnovers should be obliged to offer digital payment options rather than relying solely on cash transactions. Speaking at the Data Security Council of India summit in Delhi, he highlighted the current disparity, with 7 crore merchants but only 40 lakh Point of Sale (POS) machines accepting digital payments in the country.
Given the impracticality of government funding for POS machines for every merchant, Gopalakrishnan proposed the implementation of mandatory QR codes as a logical progression following the successful dissemination of bank accounts through the Jan Dhan Yojana initiative. The concept involves users scanning a merchant’s QR code to seamlessly make payments through a mobile payment app.
Drawing parallels with the success of the Jan Dhan initiative, Gopalakrishnan expressed support for a scheme mandating the use of QR codes, acknowledging the challenges involved but emphasizing the necessity for widespread acceptance to achieve the ultimate goal of digital payments. PayTM’s recent announcement of adopting interoperable QR codes and its plans for 1.5 billion merchant payments with 14 million merchants aligns with this vision.
Gopalakrishnan also advocated for making anonymized UPI payment data available in the market, suggesting that access to such data could lead to better loan rates for consumers through startups. He criticized the RBI’s restriction on sharing this data with startups, considering it a hindrance to potential benefits for consumers.
The panel discussion at the summit included representatives from Facebook India, PayTM Payments Bank, and Dvara Research, addressing concerns about the stagnant growth in digital payments. Gopalakrishnan highlighted the need to encourage UPI usage on feature phones, while emphasizing the importance of grievance redressal for technological failures in rural areas, where a significant trust deficit in digital payments exists.
Another panel at the event, featuring Rakesh Maheshwari, the IT ministry’s senior director overseeing the data protection bill, raised concerns about the limited understanding of non-personal data in the draft. Maheshwari suggested the appointment of a cyber ambassador—someone well-versed in technology—to serve as the public face of the government’s IT policy overseas, regardless of their affiliation with the External Affairs Ministry.