Report On Currency And Finance : 2023-2024
As per the ‘Report on Currency and Finance (RCF) for the year 2023-24’ released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s digital economy is set to constitute 20% of the country’s GDP by 2026, doubling its current contribution of 10%.
- This significant growth projection underscores the transformative potential of digitalization in finance and its far-reaching impact on India’s economy.
Report on Currency and Finance:
- It is an annual publication of the RBI.
- The report covers various aspects of the Indian economy and financial system.
- The theme of the “Report is “India’s Digital Revolution.”
- It focuses on the transformative impact of digitalization across various sectors in India, particularly in the financial sector.
Highlights from the Report on Currency and Finance 2023-24:
- The evolution and adoption of technological advancements have led to massive improvement in deepening of digital financial services.
- The potential for expanding financial inclusion in India by application of digital technologies is high in view of existing conditions.
- First, the progress of financial inclusion in India is evident in the Reserve Bank’s Financial Inclusion Index and narrowing account access gap between income groups.
- Second, in rural India, 46% of the population consists of wireless phone subscribers and 54% are active internet users.
- Third, given that more than half of FinTech consumers are from semi-urban and rural India and more than a third of digital payment users are from rural areas there is potential for furthering digital penetration and closing the rural-urban gap.
- Over two lakh gram panchayats have been connected through BharatNet in the last decade, enabling provision of services like e-health, e-education and e-governance in rural areas.
- Although internet penetration in India was at 55% in 2023, the internet user base has grown by 199 million in the recent three years.
- India’s cost per gigabyte (GB) of data consumed is the lowest globally at an average of Rs. 13.32 per GB.
- India also has one of the highest mobile data consumption in the world, with an average per-user per-month consumption of 24.1 GB in 2023.
- There are about 750 million smartphone users, which is expected to reach about one billion by 2026.
India is expected to be the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the next five years. - The digital economy currently accounts for 10% of India’s GDP.
- By 2026, this figure is expected to double, contributing to 20% of GDP, driven by rapid advancements in digital infrastructure and financial technology.
- Digitization is strengthening banking infrastructure and public finance systems, optimizing direct benefit transfers and tax collections.
