Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw urged the banking industry to create a digital platform on the lines of providing quick and easy credit to MSMEs, small businessmen, and the like.

The building blocks required to create such a platform are already available, given the strong ecosystem of Aadhaar, mobile phones, UPI, and Digilocker, he said, asking the banking industry to come up with innovative ideas and solutions in three months.

Vaishnaw was speaking at ‘Digital payment Utsav’, part of a week-long showcase of India’s achievements in the digital space titled ‘Azadi ka Digital Mahotsav’, in New Delhi.

“Can we create a platform as powerful, seamless, good, as digital as UPI platform for providing very quick and easy credit to the MSME, small industries, small businessmen…people really at bottom of the pyramid,” the minister asked the bankers in the audience.

The minister said he would be willing to look at promising concepts. “You have today a good ecosystem of Aadhaar, mobile phones, UPI platform, Digilocker –practically everything you need to create this ecosystem,” Vaishnaw said.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, the minister further said the idea is to ensure that easy credit at good terms, through a seamless process, can be made available to people at the bottom of pyramid, especially for micro and small industries, small businessmen, and street vendors, among others.