DPI led to apt use of taxpayers’ money: FM

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said digital public infrastructure has allowed India to make optimum use of taxpayers’ money.

Addressing a session on digital public infrastructure and how it helps put money in the hands of money, Sitharaman said today in India the government is able to send most of the benefits directly to the bank accounts of citizens. “It has helped in making optimum use of taxpayers’ money. In India, DPI has brought in greater efficiency in government system, better utilisation of funding for those women who so need it,” she said.

Sitharaman said the performance of bank accounts in which women were given loan assistance are doing “very well”. “After the introduction of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), the government was able to save Rs 1 lakh crore in just one of the provinces in India through DBT (direct benefit transfer),” she said, adding it has helped cut down on leakage in fund transfer to beneficiaries of government schemes.

Sitharaman is in Paris to attend the two-day summit on ‘new global Financing Pact’. Sitharaman also held a series of bilateral talks with Finance Minister of Indonesia Mulyani Indrawati, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action Mark Carney and Denmark Minister for Development Co-operation and Global Climate Policy Dan Jorgensen.

In the meeting, Sitharaman and Carney discussed ways to work together to support climate finance and reforming international financial institutions among other issues.

In her engagement with the Minister of Indonesia, which is a part of G20Troika for 2023, Sitharaman discussed the G20Finance Track Outcomes for 2023 and sought Indonesia’s views on key deliverables under G20 India Presidency.