Central govt payments to go electronic from March 31 next year
With the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), under the Finance Ministry, having developed a secured government e-payment system for directly disbursing subsidies, all the payments that the central ministries make to state governments as well as individuals will be via e-payment gateways, from March 31 next year.
The secured government e-payment system - to be inaugurated by Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee - which has been developed by the CGA will essentially facilitate the credit of governmental dues directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries.
Under the system, all benefits and dues which are part of the different centrally-subsidized schemes will be directly passed on to the recipients by the electronic-medium; including salary payments, interest, dividends, pension and other inter-departmental or inter-governmental disbursements.
The switch to the e-payment system - a move chiefly aimed at reducing corruption in the transactions made by the Government of India - implies that all transactions by the government will be made through the CGA-developed e-payment portal, using digitally signed electronic advice.
Noting that the e-payment system will involve paperless transactions, thus bringing down overall cost of transactions and promoting green banking, CGA's CR Sundaramurti said: "This system will bring transparency and expedite direct payments from central paying units relating to subsidies to the users and consumers of fertiliser, kerosene and cooking gas, which is already a declared objective of the government."
