The Centre announced on Wednesday a committee of chief ministers headed by Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu to come up with a roadmap for implementing the digital payments system in India.
The panel also has former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani as a special invitee. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is not a member of the panel, as was believed earlier
The government said the panel would be represented from different political parties to examine and implement measures to implement digital payment systems for promoting transparency, financial inclusion and ensuring a healthy financial ecosystem. The chief ministers’ involvement will ensure there is political consensus around the initiative driven by the Prime Minister’s Office.
The other chief ministers in the panel are Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Pawan Kumar Chamling (Sikkim), V Narayanasamy (Puducherry) and Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra).
Arvind Panagariya, vice-chairman of NITI Aayog, is also a member of the panel.
The chief ministers’ panel will steer clear of the fallout of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes.
Chairman of Boston Consulting Group Janmejaya Sinha, managing director of netCORE Rajesh Jain, co-founder of iSpirit Sharad Sharma, and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, professor Jayant Varma are the other special invitees to the panel.