Many service providers, including banks have significantly reduced offline operations and are asking customers to embrace the digital form for any assistance. Let’s have a look at IT players take on how E-payments are playing an important role in fighting against COVID-19 which is also promoting the Digital India Mission.
Ashis Guha, CEO at RAH Infotech
“Even while the general money stream has considerably narrowed during the last few COVID months, it is also observed that COVID has played as a catalyst in the growth of digital payment platforms in India, with more number of people adopting e-transaction modes. Forcing people to either stay at home or maintain social distancing has led people to a behavioral change, compelling to be habituated with online payment platforms. In fact, companies have witnessed addition of a high number of new users of digital payment gateways during this time.
The RBI, National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), along with government bodies, banks, financial institutions, regulatory authorities, are already teaming up to promote the faster adoption of digital payment methods. The emphasis is on using NEFT, IMPS and UPI. Though different economies are at different stages across the world, the COVID-19 has definitely cleared the road for digital payment methods in India. And it helps levitating the Digital India initiatives.
Certainly, the cyber security of these platforms becomes crucial at this time. As cash flow is halted for many during this time, cyber criminals are using emerging techniques like EMI Moratorium scams, etc. as bait. Attackers are stealing personal data and banking details, among others, and are committing fraud. In India, RBI already has put in place the ‘central payment fraud registry’ (CPFR), to ensure quick and systemic responses in cases of financial frauds.
Digital platforms are in general highly secure; however it is also important how well aware the users are to potential threats reaching out. On the forefront of fighting off digital fraud, the users have to employ caution and security measures. Few basic measures like not using insecure data networks and not opening links to lucrative websites must be strictly enforced. Also, payments must be made only to trusted sources, and payment gateways on phones and other devices must be strongly protected with passwords, finger prints, or facial recognition too.”
Prashanth G J, CEO at TechnoBind
“Technology has made it all possible”. The pandemic gave us a chance to re-evaluate and push businesses everywhere into an accelerated state of digitalization. COVID-19 has increased the adoption of digital payment solutions significantly. E-payments options are making it possible for people to sit at home and order essentials online be it from Flipkart or Amazon or any of the online ecommerce platforms. The use of digital payments was anyway growing but we have now seen this grown even more exponentially thanks to this COVID-19 situation.
The threat of cyber-crime is a real one – and there are technological solutions like encryption and tokenization which helps overcome this cyber-crime threat. There are government regulations in place but the implementation and the imposition of the guidelines of the same should be taken up seriously – currently, there is a gap!
Sunayana Hazarika, Marketing Manager at ATEN
Digitalization is emerging as a potent medium for all business transactions during this Covid-19 crisis and this is here to stay. The Digital India movement is a giant technological leap which is lubricating the wheels of India’s economy during this crisis situation. Though we as a country are still at a nascent stage in adopting this countrywide digital transformation, it is in the best interest to establish robust cybersecurity measures. Ransomware, distributed denial of service, and stealing of classified information are rampant globally and hacking is getting more sophisticated, so it’s imperative to be well equipped to deal with cyber-attacks and close all backdoors. The solution to this is simple, to be proactive instead of reactive. ATEN being a pioneer in Secure KVM solution with built-in hardware and software-based security features are helping government, military, intelligence agencies across the world to allow protected access and management of data.
Shibu Paul, Vice President – International Sales at Array Networks
“Coronavirus has broken the supply chain while rupturing the demand and market trends. As we’re forced to work remotely and use technologies for the first time, we’re realizing the benefits they deliver. Organizations are getting deeper into digital transformation. There is a paradigm-shifting to remote banking, digital payments, and direct financial aid which is further pushing the financial industry to become digital. This transformation will inevitably promote India’s Digital Mission. Policymakers need to support the ways people and organizations are using the internet to come together and deal with new pressures as our lives shift abruptly online. The focal point will be to ensure that critical functions like IT, cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and digital services are well protected.”
Gurpreet Singh, Managing Director at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd
“The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed us to modernize and harness the power of technology. Stakeholders are using technology to cushion the impact of COVID-19. We see major digital transformation coming up as India gears to establish a sense of normalcy. This shift is bound to drive India’s digital mission. Remote working and e-services have become the new norm. Banking and Personal finance institutions are trying to limit customer walk-ins by augmenting their digital capabilities and extending new online services. We see exacerbated use of hybrid cloud and hyper-converged platforms as people have realized the importance of cloud-based communication-enabled business processing. This has also led to the strengthening of cybersecurity systems to safeguard sensitive data and protect assets from malicious data breaches. Going forward, the industry would need systems that enable remote monitoring of processes and machines. Remote work will play a significant role in business continuity planning and this digital transformation will further aid in fulfilling India’s Digital Mission.”
