Two days ago the news that the cheque books are going to be the next casualty in Narendra Modi’s digital push created a lot of noise, with many media outlets reporting about it but the Finance Ministry has cleared the air and declined the reports. The ministry, in a series of tweets, said that the 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 organisation and the statement was nothing more than a speculation from an industry expert.
He was talking in the context of encouraging traders to adopt different modes of digital transactions and promote the cashless economy. Nowhere he suggested that the government had taken any such decision or was even mulling for one.
The Government of India has reaffirmed that there is NO proposal under consideration to withdraw the bank Cheque Book facility.
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) November 23, 2017
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
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) November 23, 2017
Post demonetisation 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. In fact, payments using mobile wallets have “doubled in the one-year post demonetisation, clocking $1 billion per month in 2017”. Government’s BHIM-Aadhaar platform for merchants to facilitate digital payments is playing a big role in a switch to the cashless society.
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-demonetisation era.