Digital India Programme: India is one of the top countries shifting to the digital market and e-commerce. Almost 10 million users are active internet users daily. India’s almost 60% population is internet users. On 1st July 2015, the ‘Digital India’ program was launched by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. Digital India was launched with the initiative of improving digital knowledge and connecting rural areas with internet networks. This program was initiated with the vision for growth in infrastructure, electronic products and services, and job opportunities. Some of the facilities provided under the Digital India program are Aadhaar eKYC, e-sign-paperless for PAN, eNPS, mutual funds, and insurance. Let’s study these facilities in more depth.
Aadhaar Card
An aadhaar card is a card issued for the residents of India based on their demographic and biometric data. It is a 12-digit number that gives us the unique identity of a citizen. Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) collects the data under the guidelines and jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. An Aadhaar card is also considered proof of citizenship, date of birth, and address.
Aadhaar eKYC
KYC or Know Your Customer/Client guidelines understand what laws and regulations require of a person and keep criminals out of their businesses.
Aadhaar eKYC is a crucial service provided by the UIDAI to establish the positive and true identity of their customers. This service helps to validate the name address and other information concerning their biometric identity.
Some features of Aadhaar eKYC service are:
- Paperless and completely electronic service
- Consent based
- Getting rid of document forgery
- Secure
- Non- renouncing
- Low cost
- Regulation friendly
- Machine-readable
- Instantaneous
Electronic Signature (e-sign)
An electronic signature or e-sign verifies the document’s origin and contents attached to an email or other electronic document in a digital format. An e-sign verifies documents through its encryption and decryption algorithms. E-signs are also known as biometric signatures.
Paperless PAN Card
A Permanent Account Number or PAN card is issued by the income tax department of India which gives a unique identity to the individual who applied to obtain a PAN card. It is a 10-digit alphanumeric code that is used to pool all the transactions. Nowadays, obtaining a PAN card is a 10minutes process which is easier and called e-PAN.
Some features of e-PAN are as follows:-
- e-PANs have QR codes that provide all the accurate details and give no chance for the cardholder to meddle with the information.
- The biometric signature and photograph of an individual in a PAN card are read easily and cannot be changed.
- Demographics of an individual like name, date of birth, and other details are stated in a PAN card.
Electronic News Production System (eNPS)
An electronic news production system or eNPS is a software made to be used for organizing, editing, timing, producing, and running news broadcasts. eNPS was designed by the Associated Press’s Broadcast Technology division. It is a flexible system that can handle any local from a small-market station to large organizations. Scripts, wire feeds, device controls, and production information in a server environment are integrated by the eNPS. eNPS runs an identical backup server at all times as a fail-safe known as a ‘buddy.’
Electronic National Pension System (eNPS)
The National Pension System is a social welfare scheme for distributing pensions to employees after their retirement. NPS includes both government sector employees and private sector employees. The National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) offers eNPS facility on its website for various NPS online services.
Services provided by eNPS are:-
- eNPS allows new subscribers to make their first NPS contribution to their account. eNPS gives authorization to the subscribers to make monthly and even yearly NPS contributions.
- eNPS helps the subscribers with all their queries through its web portal. Subscribers can log in to the portal and state their queries.
- eNPS also provides the subscribers with an NPS calculator which helps in calculating and estimating the pension scheme returns after a certain period of time. It gives the accurate amount of pension.
Mutual Funds
Mutual funds are those types of investment funds that are pooled together from various investors to purchase securities. The Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI) is the regulatory body for mutual funds under the guidelines of the Government of India.
Distribution of Mutual Funds
The distribution of mutual funds is done in mainly two ways:-
- Online – customers can buy or invest in mutual funds online via a licensed broker or asset management company’s website. It is much easier and convenient.
- The offline – offline distribution network is provided by most of the companies asset management based. They mainly deal with the sale of regular mutual funds intending to earn commission on it.
Insurance
Insurance is a contract that aims to provide security to an individual or a business from uncertainties. In this contract, when an individual or a business bears a loss either by accident or fire or any other uncertainty, reimbursement is provided by the insurance provider after all paperwork and inspection. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), and State Bank of India (SBI) are the largest insurance providers in India.
E-Insurance Policy
E- insurance policy stores, provides, and manages life insurance, health insurance, and other insurance policies in one place. E- insurance is easier with less paperwork and provides safeguards against loss or theft. With E-insurance, an individual can access his/her policy anytime and anywhere and save his/her time.
Some features of an E-insurance account are
- A customer can only have one E-insurance account in his/her name.
- A customer can include all of these policies including pension, life, health, and other policies in the same account.
- A unique number provided for every E-insurance account that can be used to access all.
- Ease in purchasing a policy with the given unique E-insurance account number.
- No KYC needed.
- A unique login ID and password are provided to each and every customer/user for securing his/her account.
- Ease in paying a premium and convenient to use.