Melinda Gates travels to Delhi's Garhi Village, uses Paytm to pay for water at store
Co-chairperson of the Gates Foundation and American philanthropist, Melinda French Gates, is in Delhi as a part of her current India trip. The businesswoman, who visited a village in the capital city, was also spotted making a payment via a digital application. On Wednesday, the 58-year-old went to the Garhi village in Delhi, where she was seen interacting with elderly women pensioners and Post Payments Bank customers. It was during the visit that the philanthropist learned that financial transactions have now become an integral part of India’s digital infrastructure.
She did not only meet the village residents but also made a payment via Paytm at one of the local shops. In a video shared on the official Twitter page of the Gates Foundation India, the philanthropist was seen scanning a barcode at a local shop to pay for her purchases. “Melinda Gates visited Garhi village in New Delhi and witnessed how India’s digital public infrastructure is enabling financial inclusion,” read the statement shared on Twitter.
Just a day earlier her visit, Paytm boss Vijay Shekhar took to the micro-blogging site to welcome the G20 Summit delegates. “Welcome all G20 delegates and foreign dignitaries to India and experience India’s world-class digital payment infrastructure, just Paytm Karo,” he tweeted. In a subsequent tweet, he also revealed he is proud to be a part of the generation that’s witnessing change not just in payments but also in the transport, health care, and government sector. “And proud to be part of a generation seeing change not just in Payments. From Health Care to Transport, Education to Governance. Proud of my country for setting the benchmark of public technology infrastructure!” he added.
The philanthropist also met the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday in Lucknow. During the meeting, the two discussed expanding the Gates Foundation’s technical cooperation in sectors including healthcare, agriculture, and more in collaboration with the state government.
