Advances in India’s G2P Payments: Learnings from the Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion

In India, every third woman is undernourished and every second woman is anemic. An undernourished mother is far more likely to give birth to a low-weight baby, and the health effects can last throughout a child’s life. The Indian government in 2016 expanded its cash benefit program for pregnant and lactating mothers, and it has digitized its government payments systems to make sure applications for supplemental nutrition are processed quickly and efficiently.

CGAP invited Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion (CDFI), based in New Delhi, to explain how India re-designed its government-to-person (G2P) systems for the transfer of funds and its usage of the Aadhaar IDs to process applications within 30 days.

Agenda

9:15 am |  Welcome Remarks  

Greg Chen, Policy Lead, CGAP

9:30 am | Landscape of G2P in India Today

An overview of government –to-person payments in India, how the landscape has evolved and the challenges ahead for the next stage. CDFI presentation.

10:30 am | Improving India’s Maternity Benefit Program (PMMVY)

India’s maternity program (PMMVY) provides a series of payments to expectant and lactating mothers to incentivize proper nutrition at early stages of childhood development. PMMVY has been designed for a rapid and synchronized national rollout and to reduce the time it takes for money to move from the national coffers to the mother’s account. CDFI will explain the program and how improvements have been made.

12-12:30 pm | Panel Discussion led by CGAP

Lunch will be provided

Speakers

Krishnan Dharmarajan | Executive Director | CDFI Krishnan Dharmarajan heads the Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion (CDFI) as its Executive Director. CDFI employs technology to improve design, drive faster rollout and effectively track large G2P programs. Initiatives include an integrated agri-business platform for farmers, and tools for nutrition delivery, financial literacy and rural transformation. Prior to founding CDFI, Krishnan worked on India’s GST network and its e-goverrnance plan. He studied computer engineering at Anna University and holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Indore.

Alok Gupta | Senior Program Manager | CDFI Alok Gupta manages CDFI's work on building large, innovative solutions for G2P services and government frameworks in digital payments. He is currently an advisor to the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India in Maternity and Nutrition. Before joining CDFI, he worked with the e-governance division of Infrastructure, Leasing & Financial Services Limited. Alok Gupta has a Master's degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Applications.