CMAI association of India will soon launch online training programmes for free and an educational campaign for the use of e-transactions, the association announced at a press conference held in Delhi on Thursday.

CMAI is the only integrated professional registered association in India for mobiles, telecom, ICT, education, cyber security, communications, multimedia, manufacturing industries and infrastructure sector. The association deals with over one lakh educational institutions and academic professionals consisting of universities and technical institutes.

“Demonetisation is a right step for India and we support the government for this move. It was the need of the time. Now there is a need to educate people at mass-level on digital payment systems” said NK Goyal, president, CMAI, at a press conference organised in Delhi on Thursday.

On being asked whether this step of the government – to implement a cashless economy in a short time – has caused trouble to the citizens, Goyal said “Problems will be there but the move is good for the society and the country. There was an indication from the government with the implementation of Jan Dhan Yojana. The government was prepared for the move. We are now moving towards the digital economy and this is a right step.”

On cyber security, Goyal said that the country has good cyber security laws in place.

“We are hopeful that the government will announce substantial incentives in the coming budget 2017-18 for digital payments,” Goyal said.

Suggestions that CMAI submitted to the government includes deployment of volunteers at the grass root level to educate people, especially the rural population; provide a watch dog mechanism to control cyber security breach and frauds; use of satellite, optical fibre and new technology such as white space should be explored to enhance connectivity.

SD Saxena, vice chairman of CMAI, and the former director of finance at BSNL, said that the solution is already there for a cashless economy that is mobile phones. “It is an instrument that should be used to collect money, to do banking and transactions. Ordinary people know how to use this instrument effectively,” he said.