Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that its no credit to any economy to predominantly deal in cash.
In a retort to an opposition who asked him to name any country which is cashless, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said, "I can name almost every country in the world which is a less cash economy and has made an effort to move towards it." Speaking in the Rajya Sabha and asking his opposition why he is promoting the usage of more cash, Jaitley said, "Why are you sprouting virtues of cash? It leads to economic vices, temptation to use black money, leaves less revenue for the government, evades the economic system, generates more corruption an tax evasion."
Talking about terrorism he said that all cash is not with terrorists but cash is a great enabler of resources for terrorism.
"Its no credit to any economy that you predominantly deal in cash. It gives a temptation for shadow in parallel economy." said the Finance Minister.
Stating that his opposition's anger against the government's digital drive is uncalled for, Jaitley said that in 2015 the Reserve Bank of India introduced payment banks and because of that, every telecom company which has approximatley 5 lakh bank branches each, are now using payments banks. Talking about how the country's resources are being utilised, he said there are 2,10,000 ATM machines and 5 lakh postmen now use payment banks.
Discussing whether the poor can use credit cards, Jaitley said, "Gareeb aadmi humse zyaada prageetisheel hai." (The poor man is more progressive than us). When workmen are paid by cash, they are dubed. Pay them by cheque or digital mode so tomorrow they will be entitled to social sector scheme, he said.
In an aggressive banter, the opposition impassioned that digital payments will cause chaos and alleged that the government is burdening people with extra cost. To this, the Finance Minister said, "Let us not underestimate this country. Just as post offices have reached every rural area, don't underestimate the power of technology." He said that the expansion of Aadhaar cards and e-wallets is happening at a "great pace". Commenting on demonetization, Jaitley said that the whole process which started on November 8 has catalysed to great speed.
Commenting on the issue of digital transaction fees incurred at petrol pumps, Jaitley said that on 10th January, Oil companies said they will observe the charges. He further said that wherever government bodies are involved, they have decided to observe the transaction charges.
He ended his note by saying that the entire process to shift to a less cash economy is surely difficult but the opposition shouldn't find fault in its systems.
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 "Arun Jaitley")
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