November 23, 2017
NEW DELHI – Two days ago the news that the Narendra Modi government, in order to push its digital drive, may ban cheque books soon created some noise.
November 23, 2017
NEW DELHI – Two days ago the news that the Narendra Modi government, in order to push its digital drive, may ban cheque books soon created some noise.
The Finance Ministry today cleared the air and declined the reports. The ministry, in a series of tweets, said that the Indian government has "no proposal under consideration to withdraw the bank Cheque Book facility."
"It had appeared in a certain section of media that there is a possibility that the Central Govt may withdraw bank cheque book facility in the near future, with an intent to encourage digital transactions. This has been denied by the Govt & reaffirmed that there's no such proposal," the Finance Ministry said.
The news reports stemmed from Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal's statement that the Centre "may" withdraw the bank cheque book facility in the near future to encourage digital transactions. "In all probability, the Centre may withdraw the cheque book facility in the near future to encourage digital transactions," he had said. CAIT is non-governmental organization and the statement was nothing more than a speculation from an industry expert.
Post demonetization of high-value currency notes, the Modi government has taken a number of initiatives to give a push to the digital economy such as discouraging cash transactions, making NEFT, RTGS and IMPS transactions cheaper, giving a push to mobile apps, among others.
According to RBI data, the total amount of cashless transactions stood at Rs 10.7 lakh crore in the month of August, down from Rs 13.3 lakh crore worth of transactions in March. Albeit, higher than pre-demonetization era.
Courtesy/Source: Financial Express
