Cash less society

Ram Rattan Sharma
The vision of the present Government to march ahead with all measures necessary to achieve a more transparent  and less corrupt society are aimed at rooting out black money and moving to a cashless economy in which transactions can he tracked ,which in turn lifts tax  collections and ensures that credit flows to the less privileged. With the country moving to a new way of concluding payments i.e., by using credit / debit cards, electronic wallets, mobile banking etc. what has got hit hard the most is the movement of cash. The parallel economy which has no transparency and thrives on anonymity of the currency has taken a backseat as people are left with no option but to resort to cashless transactions. If all transactions are electronic  then all transactions can be chased ,can be  recorded, checked. And thus  it will be  possible to circle the menace of black money ,which has been denting the tax base, tax collections ,encouraging, terror financing ,drug distribution, generation of fake currency and  it will also reduce real estate prices .Not just this ,some of the other advantages which has  dented  the generation of black money is the fact that digital payments bring in greater efficiency in welfare  programmes as money is wired directly into the accounts of recipients .Thus once the money is transferred directly into a beneficiaries bank account, the entire process becomes transparent. Payments can be easily traced and collected and corruption will automatically drop so people will no longer have to pay to collect what is rightfully theirs .
Demonetization caused a cash crunch and forced the Government to push for electronics payments and transfers .Though the main pitch of  demonetizations was towards curbing financing of terrorism and eliminating black money, a  major shift towards a cashless economy emerged  as a necessity . In fact our dream is that there  should be a cashless society  .Though 100%cashless society is not possible .But we can  make  start with a less cash society .Although the narratives of demonetization has changed. The Government  has been sowing the seeds of a cashless economy .In February 2016, the Government  of India approved the guidelines for promoting payments through cards and digital means .A massive  change from   the informal cash-carry system   to a formal  financing payments system  will give an impetus to the payments and the settlement system in India .The  best way to reduce corruption and  black money in the country  is to move from an  economy dependent predominantly on cash to electronic transfers which needs universal banking access &facility .A cashless economy runs on credit or debit cards ,electronic funds transfer or on line shopping instead of cash .The idea of cashless economy is  actually a revolution from the fiat  money to digital  money, generally adopted with the aim  of curbing the flow of black money and increasing  transparency of the flow of cash. All transactions are made with cards or through digital means. Internet banking the recently launched unified payments interface are other products of technology that  are directed towards going cashless .It is being opined that in the near future even credit/debit cards will become redundant or all transactions would be made possible  through a smart phone, and a mobile phone code  would be sufficient to with draw cash at ATMs,  and there would be no need for a card.
The Indian economy is one of the fastest growing economies in the world ,But it suffers  from issues like black money ,corruption ,terrorism ,illicit wealth etc to break the grip of corruption and black money, there  have always been various ways like auditing and  enforcement agencies, but the idea  of cashless economy is  more appealing ,as most economic transactions would be a part of the formal system and easy to track. In India, few use non-cash payment methods. However, the challenge is to strengthen  the digital infrastructure of banks and to make transactions safe .Cashless society offers the government and the public many advantages , as an online  payment relatively is  risk free, It will decrease  crime rate ,many anti-social  and illegal activities like drug  trafficking ,financing of terrorism and money  laundering  are carried out only in cash. A cashless economy will make it  difficult to carry  out such operations as cashless transaction can be easily monitored  by the Government. Therefore, tax evasion would be difficult. The past two months have witnessed a significant increase in the digitization  of transactions in India  and installation of swipe machines. The move towards a cashless economy might help  curb  black money  by reducing tax evasion  and ensuring transparent functioning of the economy large section of society would need  longer time to adapt to move to a cashless society .The mode of transactions might seem difficult to adopt initially but it will ensure that the country takes its first step towards  a trans[parent economy .Soon after demonetization, government took a variety of steps to motivate  people and seek their attention towards various digital  modes to be adopted so that  people do not have to stand in long queues out side  the banks. The RBI  and commercial banks need to come up with an innovative idea that enables cash; less transactions and makes them safe and easy to perform . Banks have been widely adopting the non- cash payment mode to meet the objective  of making transactions  faster ,improving efficiencies and tackling the growing  burden  of government welfare services through bank  accounts .Not  with  standing, less than 5percent of  all payments are electronic, India continues to be driven by the use of cash .Sweden is one of the top five cash  less economies  in the world. It has  already adopted  affective policies  to facilitate transactions using  mobile or plastic payments through digital infrastructure . Sweden is the first country to promise  to go 100percent cash less by 2020   and leads the race to become a cash less society. Technologies plays an important role  when we talk about the policy shift from cash to cashless .However ,there are huge differences in terms of base and other crucial dimensions.
Demonetization has encouraged the entire economy to use less cash  but has left various challenges  for the people  and also for the Government .There is unanimous agreement on the need to go digital .But this cannot be achieved without proper infrastructure and cyber security remains a key  concern. Educating People in rural areas to improve  infrastructure and logistics is required. The Government  will have to spend a lot of time in deciding policies to overcome these  flaws .India will not turn cash less immediately; first the Government should consider the problems people are facing  and how to overcome  them. Achieving  a 100 percent cashless society will never  be possible ,but one can start from a less cash society  and  then move  towards becoming mostly  cashless. Cash will    still play an    important role  for discrete transactions especially  in the remote areas. These transactions can be automated  with up coming technology. Digitising financial transactions can prove to be an effective means of curbing the large parallel economy in India increase  the tax base and reduce  the  need to carry cash, fake currencies and their use will fade away and  money laundering will godown ,for this change IT infrastructure would be required on  a grand scale. However move towards cashless economy depends on how we deal with issues like cyber security, online frauds and awareness campaigning.
(The author is former Dy Librarian University of Jammu)
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