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Tag: Ravi Shankar Prasad

  • India takes significant initiative to secure cyber space

    MUMBAI: Extending the ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign to the cyber world, the minister of electronics and information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched the Cyber Swachhta Kendra–Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre for analysis of malware and botnets that affect networks and systems. 

    This is a part of MeitY’s Digital India initiative aimed at creating a secure cyber space by detecting botnet infections in India and to notify, enable cleaning and securing systems of end-users to prevent further infections. The centre is operated by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).The Centre aims to enhance coordination between the Government and industry in order to encourage cyber hygiene among all end-users and to create a secure and safe internet ecosystem in India.

    Speaking on the occasion, Prasad said, “India is going to take a lead in the digitization process of the world. India today joined the distinguished club of countries that have malware cleaning systems for the use of its citizens. As of now, we have 13 Banks & internet service providers using this facility. With the expanding digital footprint in the country, I see a surge in start-ups in the area of cyber security by the end of the year.”

    “With the expanding role of Information and Communication technology across sectors and growth in volume of transactions and data exchange via internet, Cyber Security as reiterated by the prime minister, has emerged as the most critical factor when we move towards Digital India. Combating cyber threats is not something that can be done just by the government or an organisation or an individual alone. It requires a partnership approach. This centre being launched today will work in coordination with the Internet Service Providers and Industry. This Kendra will also enhance awareness among citizens regarding botnet and malware infection along with measures to be taken to secure their devices”, added Prasad.

    The minister made the following announcement at the launch of Cyber Swachhta Kendra:

    · The National Cyber Coordination Centre to be operational by June 2017
    · Sectoral CERTs to be created, that would operate under CERT-In
    · CERTs are to be set up in the state level as well
    · 10 more STQC (Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification) Testing Facilities to be set up
    · Testing fee for any star-up that comes up with a digital technology in the quest of cyber security, to be reduced by 50%
    · Empower designated Forensic Labs to work as the certified authority to establish cyber crime

    The Centre will operate in close co-ordination and collaboration with Internet Service Providers (ISP) and Anti-Virus companies. Whenever an infection is detected, the Centre will send alerts on the infected IP addresses to the Internet Service Providers, who in turn will inform the end-user about the malware and botnet infections on their system. The Centre will also work in close collaboration with the Banks to detect malware infections in their banking network and enable remedial actions. The launch of the Centre will help the Internet service providers and the banks to keep their networks clean and prevent cases of cyber fraud and theft.

    Ministry of electronics and information technology Aruna Sundararajan said, “With the increased penetration of ICT infrastructure in our country, the threat of cyber security has become more serious and visible. Today, the common man is confronted with hacking, spamming, malware and loss of data, yet public awareness about these issues and how to protect themselves is extremely low. There is a need to collaborate and come forth with solutions like the Cyber Swachhta Kendra in order to ensure a safe and secure cyber world for the citizens of India.”

    With the growth in digitalization and proliferation of broadband and mobile internet, security of end users’ systems is vital for enhancing their trust in ICT and online transactions. User information from the computer and the mobile devices can be compromised if systems get affected with Bots. Users therefore need to practice a rigid cyber hygiene regimen to prevent malware infections on their systems and to ensure security of their systems through suitable anti-malware tools. The Cyber Swachhta Kendra will provide free tools for detection and removal of malicious programmes. More than 3500 users have currently downloaded and tried the free bot removal tools till date. The end-user can log on to the Cyber Swachhta Kendra Portal (www.cyberswachhtakendra.gov.in) and clean their systems using the free cleaning tools. Users can also educate themselves about the various cyber threats and get information on the security tips in order to secure their computers, mobiles and prevent infections in their systems.

    Given below are details of some of the tools released for citizens:

    · USB Pratirodh -A desktop security solution, which protects from USB mass storage device threats.
    · AppSamvid – A desktop solution which protects systems by allowing installation of genuine applications through white listing. This helps in preventing threats from malicious applications. 
    · M-Kavach – An indigenously developed solution to address the security threats in mobiles.

    Also Read:

    Rs 12 billion budgeted for ‘Digital India’ ’17-18

    Cyberbullying may lead to depression in Asian kids

    India, US renew commitment to work on cyber security

  • Ravi Shankar too hopes DTH will support Swayam

    Ravi Shankar too hopes DTH will support Swayam

    NEW DELHI: Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has expressed the hope that said linkage with direct-to-home platforms will help the ready-to-be-launched Swayam platform with at least 350 online courses.

    This will leverage information technology and enable students to virtually attend the courses taught by the best of the faculties present in the country, access high quality reading resources, participate in discussion forums, take tests and earn academic grades.

    Prasad in a statement described the budget as “A Digital Friendly Budget aimed at accelerating India’s Transformation into a Digitally Empowered Society”.  

    He said the Digital India initiative of the government had transformed the digital profile of India significantly. Investments in electronic manufacturing which was just Rs 110 billion in June 2014 has increased to Rs 1278.8 billion.

    The production of indigenous LCD/LED TVs went up by 38 per cent to 12 million units in 2015-16 as compared to 8.7 million units in 2014-15.

    LED products made in the country earned Rs 35.9 billion in 2015-16, showing a growth of 65 per cent over 2014-15 when the earning was Rs 21.72 billion.

    Similarly, 110 milion Indian mobile handsets were produced in 2015-16, showing a rise of 83 per cent over the previos year 2014-15 when the production was 60 million units. With 72 new mobile handset and component manufacturing units set up in last two years, India has emerged as a mobile manufacturing hub. The growth in mobile handsets in value terms means a growth of 185 per cent, having risen to Rs 540 billion in 2015-16 as against Rs 189 billion in 2014-15.

    The number of telephone users in the country had grown from 950 million in June 2014 to 1080 million mobile phone users. He listed some of the other achievements of the Digital India programme:

    ·   Bharat Net: Optical Fibre Network to connect villages of India has seen rapid growth. In June, 2014 only 358 kms of optical fibre was laid. In January, 2017 1.72 lakh kms of optical fiber has been laid across more than 76, 000 Gram Panchayats.

    ·   MyGov: A new platform created for participative governance now has over 40 lakh registered users.

    ·   Aadhaar Holders: From 63 Crore Aadhaar holders in 2014, India today has 111 Crore Aadhaar holders.
    ·   Common Service Centers: To provide digital services to common people in villages the Common Services Centers were created. In June 2014, only 83,000 such centers were active across the country, which has now increased to 2.05 lakh centers.

    ·    Jeevan Pramaan Portal: A new initiative to provide convenience to pension holders was created which now has 56 lakh registered pensioners.

    ·    Digi Locker:  A new initiative to provide safe online document storage to citizen now has more 42 lakh users. More than 165 Crore digital documents have been issued by the Government in these lockers.
    ·   Scholarship Portal: Online scholarship was easily made available to the students. 1.4 Crore students have registered under this.

    ·   Online Hospital Appointment: Online appointment services in 60 major hospitals have been started. Total 47 lakh appointments have been taken online.

    ·   eNAM: Online National Agriculture Market was created so that farmers can get the best price for their produce. Today more than 8.5 lakh farmers have registered on this portal.

    ·   Growth in Digital Transactions: eTaal portal which measures the digital transactions of various eGovernance services has seen a rapid growth:
    ·   In 2013- 66.25 lakh transactions per day
    ·   In 2014- 96.9 lakh transactions per day
    ·   In 2015- 1.85 crore transactions per day
    ·   In 2016- 3 crore transactions per day

    ·  Computerization of Land Records: Land records have been computerized in 31 states and Union Territories. Record of Rights (RORs) made online for 22 States/UTs. Bhu-Naksha/ Map digitization done for 15 States/UTs.

    · Digi Dhan Abhiyaan: To promote digital payments across the country, Digi Dhan Abhiyaan was launched in December, 2016. Under this effort of the Ministry, more than 2 Crore people and 7.18 lakh shopkeepers were trained in digital payments across 5636 blocks of 640 districts.

    Speaking on the relevance of the Union Budget 2017-18 to Electronics and IT sector, Prasad said, “As India is now on the cusp of a massive digital revolution, promotion of a digital economy is an integral part of Government’s strategy to clean the system and weed out corruption and black money. It has a transformative impact in terms of greater formalisation of the economy and mainstreaming of financial savings into the banking system. This, in turn, is expected to energise private investment in the country through lower cost of credit.”

    “Digital Economy aims for speed, accountability and transparency. We are also creating an eco-system to make India a global hub for electronics manufacturing. Over 250 investment proposals for electronics manufacturing have been received in the last 2 years, totalling an investment of Rs 1260 billion. A number of global leaders and mobile manufacturers have set up production facilities in India. A shift to digital payments has huge benefits for the common man. The earlier initiative of our Government to promote financial inclusion and the JAM trinity were important precursors to our current push for digital transactions”, he added.

    Digital Inclusion remains of central concern to this Government. In order that people in rural areas are able to access quality services, the Government has announced that a DigiGaon initiative will be launched in order to provide tele-medicine, education and skills through use of digital technologies. For senior citizens an Aadhar based Smart Card containing health details will be introduced initially on a pilot basis in 15 districts in 2017-18. This week the Cabinet has approved a scheme for digital literacy for 6 crore rural households– Prime Minister Gram Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan PMGDISHA which will be strengthened through the network of the Common Service Centre. We expect that this will further open up opportunities for livelihood in digital arena in rural areas. It is to be noted that CSCs have generated employment opportunities for over five lakh youth in rural areas.

    He said the recently launched BHIM App by the Government will unleash the power of mobile phones for digital payments and financial inclusion. So far, over 140 lakh people have adopted the BHIM app. The Government will launch two new schemes to promote the usage of BHIM; viz., Referral Bonus Scheme for individuals and a Cashback Scheme for merchants

    Aadhar Pay, a merchant version of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System, will also be launched shortly.  This will be specifically beneficial for those who do not have debit cards, mobile wallets and mobile phones. A Mission will be set up with a target of 2,500 crore digital transactions for 2017-18 through UPI, USSD, Aadhaar Pay, IMPS and debit cards. Banks have targeted to introduce additional 10 lakh new PoS terminals by March 2017.  They will be encouraged to introduce 20 lakh Aadhaar based PoS by September 2017.  

    Keeping in view the need to promote cashless transactions, exemptionfrom BCD, Excise/CV duty and SAD on miniaturized POS card reader for m-POS, micro ATM standards version 1.5.1, Finger Print Readers/Scanners and Iris Scanners been brought down to nil. Simultaneously, exemption is also extended to parts and components for manufacture of such devices, so as to encourage domestic manufacturing of these devices. I am sure you will notice that there are a number of other measures that are aimed at improving the ease of doing business and also for encouraging start ups.

    The focus would be on rural and semi urban areas through Post Offices, Fair Price Shops and Banking Correspondents and cooperative sector. Support has been provided for NABARD for computerisation and integration of all 63,000 functional PACS with the Core Banking System of District Central Cooperative Banks. This will be done in 3 years at an estimated cost of Rs 1,900 crores, with financial participation from State Governments. This will ensure seamless flow of credit to small and marginal farmers. The coverage of National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) will be expanded from the current 250 markets to 585 APMCs. Steps would be taken to promote digital payments in petrol pumps, fertilizer depots, municipalities, Block offices, road transport offices, universities, colleges, hospitals and other institutions, such as using the recently launched BHIM App.  A proposal to mandate all Government receipts through digital means, beyond a prescribed limit, is under consideration.  Further, steps will be taken for linking of individual demat accounts with Aadhaar.

    The Government is planning to introduce a new and restructured Central scheme – Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) in 2017-18. The allocation for incentive schemes like M-SIPS and EDF exponentially increased to an all time high of Rs 7450 million in 2017-18. Duties have been rationalized which will provide boost to manufacturing of LED lights and solar cells and modules.

    Cyber Security being very critical for safeguarding the integrity and stability of the financial sector and one of the major factors behind the Digital drive, the government is setting up a Computer Emergency Response Team for the Financial Sector (CERT-Fin).  This entity will work in close coordination with all financial sector regulators and other stakeholders.

    Also Read:

    FM wants DTH to help Swayam, industry skeptical

    DTH channels being launched by September to impart education: Javadekar

    Only Dish TV carrying HRD ministry’s educational TV channels

  • Dist. National Informatics Centres to be of international standards

    Dist. National Informatics Centres to be of international standards

    NEW DELHI: Electronics and Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said the National Informatics Centre is the “technological bridge of India and is best placed to lead the way for a Digital India”

    He urged the District Information Officers (DIOs) to be innovative and proactive. NIC must adopt a transformative approach to make a difference at the grassroots level. He appealed to the NIC to connect with the Common Service Centres (CSCs), who have successfully provided training on digital payment systems to over 19.6 million of rural citizens and 6,15,000 merchants.”

    He was speaking at an event where the NIC kicked off the National Meet on Grassroot Informatics – VIVID: Weaving a Digital India here.

    The inauguration of the three-day event was also attended Minister of State P P Chaudhary, Secretary Ms Aruna Sundararajan, Additional Secretary Ajay Kumar, NIC DG Ms Neeta Verma, and Deputy DG Ms Rama Nagpal.

    Prasad announced the Government’s plan to set up a Government Security Operation Centre and a Data Centre for Cloud in Bhopal. He also announced that the Government is going to enhance the infrastructure of district NIC offices to international standards. As a pilot project, 150 District NIC offices would be upgraded during the period 2017-18, while rest will follow soon.

    He instructed the ministry to develop a training module for the NIC officials to keep pace with the ever evolving technologies. He also announced the introduction of annual awards for the DIOs of the NIC for taking up exemplary innovative approach in their respective districts. The top three best innovators will get a reward of Rs 2,00,000, Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively.

    Chaudhary said, “The threshold of the year 2017 will always be remembered for heralding in several transformative changes to benefit the economy as well to the citizens, amongst them the Digital India initiative has been the most significant one. I must congratulate NIC and DIOs for playing a pivotal role in preparing the country for a successful Digital transformation of our ecosystem.

    NIC also introduced two new portals – District Collector’s Dashboard and NIC Service Desk, which were launched by Prasad and Chaudhary respectively.

    The National Meet on Grassroots Informatics is aimed at showcasing the various initiatives of NIC in creating and enhancing the Digital Infrastructure in the country. Some of these are – setting up of ICT infrastructure, developing state of the art products to enable the government and empower the citizens, its initiatives at state and district level along the lines of Digital India initiatives along with the various awareness campaigns on Digital Payment Systems encompassing DBT, PFMS, Cashless Payment, Aadhaar etc.

    The individual sessions during these three days would throw lights on NIC’s journey so far, the best practices it follows, the Digital India programme, Digital India initiatives from NIC State Units, success stories from the districts, Financial Inclusion, its technology awareness programmes and ICT Infrastructure being provided by NIC.

  • Dist. National Informatics Centres to be of international standards

    Dist. National Informatics Centres to be of international standards

    NEW DELHI: Electronics and Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said the National Informatics Centre is the “technological bridge of India and is best placed to lead the way for a Digital India”

    He urged the District Information Officers (DIOs) to be innovative and proactive. NIC must adopt a transformative approach to make a difference at the grassroots level. He appealed to the NIC to connect with the Common Service Centres (CSCs), who have successfully provided training on digital payment systems to over 19.6 million of rural citizens and 6,15,000 merchants.”

    He was speaking at an event where the NIC kicked off the National Meet on Grassroot Informatics – VIVID: Weaving a Digital India here.

    The inauguration of the three-day event was also attended Minister of State P P Chaudhary, Secretary Ms Aruna Sundararajan, Additional Secretary Ajay Kumar, NIC DG Ms Neeta Verma, and Deputy DG Ms Rama Nagpal.

    Prasad announced the Government’s plan to set up a Government Security Operation Centre and a Data Centre for Cloud in Bhopal. He also announced that the Government is going to enhance the infrastructure of district NIC offices to international standards. As a pilot project, 150 District NIC offices would be upgraded during the period 2017-18, while rest will follow soon.

    He instructed the ministry to develop a training module for the NIC officials to keep pace with the ever evolving technologies. He also announced the introduction of annual awards for the DIOs of the NIC for taking up exemplary innovative approach in their respective districts. The top three best innovators will get a reward of Rs 2,00,000, Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively.

    Chaudhary said, “The threshold of the year 2017 will always be remembered for heralding in several transformative changes to benefit the economy as well to the citizens, amongst them the Digital India initiative has been the most significant one. I must congratulate NIC and DIOs for playing a pivotal role in preparing the country for a successful Digital transformation of our ecosystem.

    NIC also introduced two new portals – District Collector’s Dashboard and NIC Service Desk, which were launched by Prasad and Chaudhary respectively.

    The National Meet on Grassroots Informatics is aimed at showcasing the various initiatives of NIC in creating and enhancing the Digital Infrastructure in the country. Some of these are – setting up of ICT infrastructure, developing state of the art products to enable the government and empower the citizens, its initiatives at state and district level along the lines of Digital India initiatives along with the various awareness campaigns on Digital Payment Systems encompassing DBT, PFMS, Cashless Payment, Aadhaar etc.

    The individual sessions during these three days would throw lights on NIC’s journey so far, the best practices it follows, the Digital India programme, Digital India initiatives from NIC State Units, success stories from the districts, Financial Inclusion, its technology awareness programmes and ICT Infrastructure being provided by NIC.

  • Unsponsored ‘Remonetise India’ simulcast on all Times channels without ads

    Unsponsored ‘Remonetise India’ simulcast on all Times channels without ads

    MUMBAI: Times Network, the broadcast arm of the Times Group initiated, ‘Remonetise India – A Citizen’s Pledge’, a nationwide crusader campaign, urging Indians to take the next step from demonetization and Pledge for Growth. Keeping the government’s vision in mind, Remonetise India is an initiative by Times Network which calls all the Citizens of India to come out and make a difference. Urging the citizens to be the change agent for the changes they want to see, and bring India’s economy back on track. Times Network conducted a live Telethon from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, across all channels of the network and connected viewers to Opinion and Policy makers, encouraged them to invest more and educated the them about moving to a digital and a less cash economy.

    The live telethon was set in motion & moderated by Faye Dsouza, Editor Magicbricks NOW & Anand Narasimhan, Sr. Anchor & Editorial Consultant at Times Now, and witnessed the participation from eminent personalities like Ravi Shankar Prasad (Union Minister for IT, Law & Justice), Nirmala Sitharaman (MoS (Independent Charge), Ministry of Commerce & Industry Minister for Commerce), Amitabh Kant (CEO of Niti Ayog), Narayana Murthy (Founder of Infosys), Deepak Parekh (Chairman of HDFC), Sunil Munjal (Joint – MD of Hero Corp), Kunal Bahal (CEO of Snap Deal), Abhiraj Bhal (Co Founder of Urban Clap) and famous author & and motivational speaker Chetan Bhagat. As these eminent personalities or panellist answered the viewers questions related too Remonetisation India.

    Prasad said, “Narendra Modi’s Government is a transformative Government. India is home to 50 crore internet and 30 crore mobile users. Penetration of mobile phones in rural areas is significant. Demonetisation has crippled terrorism and Maoism in the country. Indians have a passion for technology. India’s push towards digital payments has been remarkable. Digital India, Make in India, Skill India, Startup India are designed to make India an empowered society. India Digital economy is going to be a 1 trillion dollar economy in the coming 5 years.”

    Sitharaman said, “Demonetisation hasn’t had any significant impact on jobs recorded. Impact on jobs, if any, was only in the first 10 days of demonetisation. 87-90 per cent of our economy is a parallel economy and normalcy is getting restored, as all ATMs have been recalibrated. The PM has already announced sops for sectors that need help. We’re not talking of a completely cashless economy but only saying there should be less cash which is being used. Salute to those who are spreading awareness about digitisation.”

    Times Network MD & CEO M K Anand said, “This is the first time any Indian network has done a simulcast on all its channels, and that too unsponsored and without an ad break. I am extremely proud that I work for a network which can pursue such an audacious and worthy purpose.”

    Murthy said, “We still have a long journey to make India digital as all the infrastructure needs to be built up for the country to go totally digital. The number of micro ATMs in the country as well as ATMs is small compared to developed countries. If our banks can replace all the debit/credit cards with Aadhar link, it will become easier and help the country to go fully digital.’’

    Kant said, “We must ensure to convert informal economy to formal economy for growth because economy cannot grow rapidly when a parallel black economy exists. Printing, transport, storing cash and handling cash is an expensive proposition and thus a threefold strategy has been planned to reach out to the entire population for remonetisation. For people with smart-phones, Bhim App is a great enabler. In India we have taken a huge campaign mode initiative to embed every single account with Aadhaar. 40 crore accounts have Aadhar embedded into them and thus Aadhaar will enable India to technologically leapfrog in many ways and so the challenge for all of us is to spread this movement.”

    Parekh said, “Demonetisation has been a game changer and was a part of a bigger plan of the Government. It also ensured that smaller home developer’s got formalised. The Indian economy has been resilient to the change as anticipated earlier and needs to move forward from demonetization which was used to oust black money. Majority of the people continue to support this endeavor of the Government. The biggest advantage for homebuyers will be lower interest rates, transparency & no large cash payments and thus we also hope that many developers now move towards affordable homes.”

    Munjal said, “For an economy to become digital, reach is important and one must ensure infrastructure is present for this transition. From a company’s point of view, we need to find options to make payments. We also need to watch out for contemporary changes that are taking place across the world and encourage multiple ways of cashless transactions.”

    Bahal said, “Demonetisation has opened up lots of opportunities for us. We have seen a significant increase in cashless payments in smaller cities as about half of all payments are being done in a cashless manner.” “A large strata of the society is not banked. There are no extra or hidden charges if you are paying digitally because e-commerce firms are right now bearing transaction charges,” he added.

    Bhagat said, “Cash is a very convenient thing, but at the same time digital payments will come in. Cashless does not mean taking loans. Technology will help people get used to digital transactions. I urge Banks to give more incentives for debit/credit cards.”

    In support of the movement and as a part of its own contribution to the goals, Times Network will conduct several on-ground activities like Aadhaar camps, Investor camps and cashless festivals apart from a 360 degree campaign approach that will involve various channels of communication including on-air, digital and social media promotions & educating people about the advantages & benefits of a cash less economy and digital transactions.

  • Unsponsored ‘Remonetise India’ simulcast on all Times channels without ads

    Unsponsored ‘Remonetise India’ simulcast on all Times channels without ads

    MUMBAI: Times Network, the broadcast arm of the Times Group initiated, ‘Remonetise India – A Citizen’s Pledge’, a nationwide crusader campaign, urging Indians to take the next step from demonetization and Pledge for Growth. Keeping the government’s vision in mind, Remonetise India is an initiative by Times Network which calls all the Citizens of India to come out and make a difference. Urging the citizens to be the change agent for the changes they want to see, and bring India’s economy back on track. Times Network conducted a live Telethon from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, across all channels of the network and connected viewers to Opinion and Policy makers, encouraged them to invest more and educated the them about moving to a digital and a less cash economy.

    The live telethon was set in motion & moderated by Faye Dsouza, Editor Magicbricks NOW & Anand Narasimhan, Sr. Anchor & Editorial Consultant at Times Now, and witnessed the participation from eminent personalities like Ravi Shankar Prasad (Union Minister for IT, Law & Justice), Nirmala Sitharaman (MoS (Independent Charge), Ministry of Commerce & Industry Minister for Commerce), Amitabh Kant (CEO of Niti Ayog), Narayana Murthy (Founder of Infosys), Deepak Parekh (Chairman of HDFC), Sunil Munjal (Joint – MD of Hero Corp), Kunal Bahal (CEO of Snap Deal), Abhiraj Bhal (Co Founder of Urban Clap) and famous author & and motivational speaker Chetan Bhagat. As these eminent personalities or panellist answered the viewers questions related too Remonetisation India.

    Prasad said, “Narendra Modi’s Government is a transformative Government. India is home to 50 crore internet and 30 crore mobile users. Penetration of mobile phones in rural areas is significant. Demonetisation has crippled terrorism and Maoism in the country. Indians have a passion for technology. India’s push towards digital payments has been remarkable. Digital India, Make in India, Skill India, Startup India are designed to make India an empowered society. India Digital economy is going to be a 1 trillion dollar economy in the coming 5 years.”

    Sitharaman said, “Demonetisation hasn’t had any significant impact on jobs recorded. Impact on jobs, if any, was only in the first 10 days of demonetisation. 87-90 per cent of our economy is a parallel economy and normalcy is getting restored, as all ATMs have been recalibrated. The PM has already announced sops for sectors that need help. We’re not talking of a completely cashless economy but only saying there should be less cash which is being used. Salute to those who are spreading awareness about digitisation.”

    Times Network MD & CEO M K Anand said, “This is the first time any Indian network has done a simulcast on all its channels, and that too unsponsored and without an ad break. I am extremely proud that I work for a network which can pursue such an audacious and worthy purpose.”

    Murthy said, “We still have a long journey to make India digital as all the infrastructure needs to be built up for the country to go totally digital. The number of micro ATMs in the country as well as ATMs is small compared to developed countries. If our banks can replace all the debit/credit cards with Aadhar link, it will become easier and help the country to go fully digital.’’

    Kant said, “We must ensure to convert informal economy to formal economy for growth because economy cannot grow rapidly when a parallel black economy exists. Printing, transport, storing cash and handling cash is an expensive proposition and thus a threefold strategy has been planned to reach out to the entire population for remonetisation. For people with smart-phones, Bhim App is a great enabler. In India we have taken a huge campaign mode initiative to embed every single account with Aadhaar. 40 crore accounts have Aadhar embedded into them and thus Aadhaar will enable India to technologically leapfrog in many ways and so the challenge for all of us is to spread this movement.”

    Parekh said, “Demonetisation has been a game changer and was a part of a bigger plan of the Government. It also ensured that smaller home developer’s got formalised. The Indian economy has been resilient to the change as anticipated earlier and needs to move forward from demonetization which was used to oust black money. Majority of the people continue to support this endeavor of the Government. The biggest advantage for homebuyers will be lower interest rates, transparency & no large cash payments and thus we also hope that many developers now move towards affordable homes.”

    Munjal said, “For an economy to become digital, reach is important and one must ensure infrastructure is present for this transition. From a company’s point of view, we need to find options to make payments. We also need to watch out for contemporary changes that are taking place across the world and encourage multiple ways of cashless transactions.”

    Bahal said, “Demonetisation has opened up lots of opportunities for us. We have seen a significant increase in cashless payments in smaller cities as about half of all payments are being done in a cashless manner.” “A large strata of the society is not banked. There are no extra or hidden charges if you are paying digitally because e-commerce firms are right now bearing transaction charges,” he added.

    Bhagat said, “Cash is a very convenient thing, but at the same time digital payments will come in. Cashless does not mean taking loans. Technology will help people get used to digital transactions. I urge Banks to give more incentives for debit/credit cards.”

    In support of the movement and as a part of its own contribution to the goals, Times Network will conduct several on-ground activities like Aadhaar camps, Investor camps and cashless festivals apart from a 360 degree campaign approach that will involve various channels of communication including on-air, digital and social media promotions & educating people about the advantages & benefits of a cash less economy and digital transactions.

  • Digitisation vital for transparent governance, says Prasad

    Digitisation vital for transparent governance, says Prasad

    NEW DELHI: Electronics & information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad feels “Digital governance is good governance, digital governance is transparent governance and digital governance is honest governance.”

    Speaking at a Special Session at FICCI’s 89th Annual General Meeting, he said with a population more than 1.25 billion, India has 1.04 billion mobile phone users, of which 350 million are smart phone users with 500 billion internet users.

    Backed up by initiatives like Make in India, Digital India and Startup India, the nation is at the cusp of a big transformation.

    With government emphasizing on electronics manufacturing sector, India has established 40 mobile phone manufacturing centres in the last one year and with conducive policy initiatives and framework India aims to become global manufacturing hub.

    Prasad also gave examples of how citizens from remote parts of India are utilising the digital tools as epicentre of socio-economic development.

  • Digitisation vital for transparent governance, says Prasad

    Digitisation vital for transparent governance, says Prasad

    NEW DELHI: Electronics & information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad feels “Digital governance is good governance, digital governance is transparent governance and digital governance is honest governance.”

    Speaking at a Special Session at FICCI’s 89th Annual General Meeting, he said with a population more than 1.25 billion, India has 1.04 billion mobile phone users, of which 350 million are smart phone users with 500 billion internet users.

    Backed up by initiatives like Make in India, Digital India and Startup India, the nation is at the cusp of a big transformation.

    With government emphasizing on electronics manufacturing sector, India has established 40 mobile phone manufacturing centres in the last one year and with conducive policy initiatives and framework India aims to become global manufacturing hub.

    Prasad also gave examples of how citizens from remote parts of India are utilising the digital tools as epicentre of socio-economic development.

  • Business Today honours ZEEL MD & CEO Punit Goenka with ‘Best CEO’ award

    Business Today honours ZEEL MD & CEO Punit Goenka with ‘Best CEO’ award

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) MD & CEO Punit Goenka has received the coveted Business Today ‘Best CEO’ award in the Media and Entertainment category for 2016. The award was presented by the minister of law & justice and electronics & information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad, India Today group chairman & editor-in-chief Aroon Purie & Wave group vice chairman Manpreet Chadha, at the BT Best CEO Awards ceremony in New Delhi.

    Acknowledging the award, Goenka said, “I accept this award with pride on behalf of our visionary chairman, Dr. Subhash Chandra, and my team at ZEE, whose dedication, hard work and support have enabled the organisation to reach greater heights. We have consistently grown ahead of market, expanded our network viewership share and experienced growth of our product bouquet, both in India and internationally.”

    The methodology of Business Today’s Best CEO Awards focused on the operational performance of companies and their shareholders returns which was conducted by BT’s Knowledge support partner for the process PwC India. To arrive at the BT Best CEO Award winners for 2016, Business Today first used the BT500 list of Most Valuable Indian Companies as a base and then analysed three-year data, using parameters such as growth in total income, total shareholder returns and PBIT. Based on this analysis, an independent jury comprising renowned business leaders — JM Financial Group chairman Nimesh Kampani, JP Morgan India CEO Kalpana Morparia, Khaitan & Co. senior partner Haigreve Khaitan, and Bain & Co. India chairman Sri Rajan chose the final winners.

    Other recipients of the BT Best CEO Awards 2016 include Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Tech Mahindra CEO & MD C P Gurnani, and Dabur India CEO Sunil Duggal, among other.

  • Business Today honours ZEEL MD & CEO Punit Goenka with ‘Best CEO’ award

    Business Today honours ZEEL MD & CEO Punit Goenka with ‘Best CEO’ award

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) MD & CEO Punit Goenka has received the coveted Business Today ‘Best CEO’ award in the Media and Entertainment category for 2016. The award was presented by the minister of law & justice and electronics & information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad, India Today group chairman & editor-in-chief Aroon Purie & Wave group vice chairman Manpreet Chadha, at the BT Best CEO Awards ceremony in New Delhi.

    Acknowledging the award, Goenka said, “I accept this award with pride on behalf of our visionary chairman, Dr. Subhash Chandra, and my team at ZEE, whose dedication, hard work and support have enabled the organisation to reach greater heights. We have consistently grown ahead of market, expanded our network viewership share and experienced growth of our product bouquet, both in India and internationally.”

    The methodology of Business Today’s Best CEO Awards focused on the operational performance of companies and their shareholders returns which was conducted by BT’s Knowledge support partner for the process PwC India. To arrive at the BT Best CEO Award winners for 2016, Business Today first used the BT500 list of Most Valuable Indian Companies as a base and then analysed three-year data, using parameters such as growth in total income, total shareholder returns and PBIT. Based on this analysis, an independent jury comprising renowned business leaders — JM Financial Group chairman Nimesh Kampani, JP Morgan India CEO Kalpana Morparia, Khaitan & Co. senior partner Haigreve Khaitan, and Bain & Co. India chairman Sri Rajan chose the final winners.

    Other recipients of the BT Best CEO Awards 2016 include Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Tech Mahindra CEO & MD C P Gurnani, and Dabur India CEO Sunil Duggal, among other.