Islamabad: Noted Pakistani foreign policy expert Uzair Yunus has said that his firsthand experience of expanding digital footprint in India during his recent visit to the country made him feel like he was visiting a state from the future. Looking at the well-maintained dargah in his native village, which is mainly visited by Hindus, he said Pakistanis were being fed “lies of hatred for politics”. Uzair Yunus, director of the Pakistan Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, made the remarks in a podcast on a private YouTube channel called ‘The Pakistan Experience’. In the podcast, he talks about his experience during his recent trip to India as well as topics including skyrocketing inflation in his homeland, India’s digital progress and communal harmony in India, among others.
‘The Pakistan Experience’ is an independently produced podcast. Uzair Yunus, director of the Pakistan Initiative at the South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council, said that there is an energy in the people of India. “Indians are full of energy. They have a positive mindset and an attitude that ‘this is our moment’. It’s now or never,” Yunus said in the video.
What gives Indians this attitude, he said, is the efforts being made in the country to digitize the economy along with investments in infrastructure. He also mentioned how impressed he was when he saw a cobbler in Mumbai offering a QR code scanner to its customers to enable digital payments. “The owner of a paan shop also had a QR code scanner. There was no need for cash at all,” he added.
He said he watches in amazement as people eat shortbread in restaurants and it seems they just walk away. Though he was initially confused as to why they were leaving without paying for their food, he later learned that they had done so digitally, he said. “I was wondering why the shopkeeper was letting his customers go without paying for their food. Then I saw that there was a Paytm QR code and customers were scanning the code to pay.”
The foreign policy expert recalled that he asked his friend how the shopkeeper was keeping track of payments received. “What I learned from my friend is that fin-techs have started selling smart speakers that are connected to the merchant’s wallet. While the merchant is busy attending to his customers, the smart speaker emits a buzz every time a payment is received. Will announce,” he said.
To this the host of the show quipped that Younis must have visited some state in the future. The foreign policy expert nodded in the affirmative. He further said that cash is still used in India, and cash circulation actually accounts for 13 per cent of the country’s GDP.
“In Pakistan it is 20 per cent,” he said. The host of the show said, “Pakistan doesn’t even have 5G network, what did Jio do there (in India).” The Pakistani foreign policy expert said he was also impressed by how everyone in India has access to zero balance accounts, UPI and mobile phones.
He said, “Our generation had digitized IDs and passports but we didn’t take the next step. We lagged behind. We did it just for the sake of it.” Yunus said, “The cost of sending money on UPI is zero as the Government of India provides the necessary infrastructure. The Government of India mandates that every citizen with an Aadhaar card should be entitled to a zero balance, zero cost bank account.”
He said it was something new to him that people living in remote Indian villages have zero-balance bank accounts along with Aadhaar. “This is what Modi government has done in India. At that time he was criticized and accused of wasting government money. People said that opening bank accounts with subsidy from banks with zero balance is nothing Will be. But that’s changed.” lives,” he said.
“Government subsidies made digital wallets more popular, encouraged delivery of services through digital means, reduced corruption and enabled more digital payments. Because now, you can not only open a bank account on an e-wallet Rather get insurance as well as credit,” he said.
“My grandfather’s village, Ghed Bagsara near Rajkot, has a population of only 3000, but has access to 4G LTE,” he said. offered a QR code to its customers at the dargah,” he said.