Demonetisation to boost digital payment: Jayant Sinha

This would help the country move towards a cashless economy, he said

The central government’s decision to demonetise old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would help the country move towards a cashless economy, according to Jayant Sinha, Union minister of state for civil aviation. 

Delivering the third G Ramachandran Memorial Lecture organised by the Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) here on Saturday, he said: “We are going to a new normal, that is going to be less cash, more digital and it is the one that’s going to engender much more compliance.” 

Adding: “It’ll lead us to building an India where we’ll have a bigger digital base than virtually any other country in the world.”

“With the move, the government is bringing in a lot of deposits to our banking system, expanding the tax base, compressing the parallel economy and pushing out the counterfeit currency.”

The move, according to him, will give a massive boost to digital payments and the digital economy. “Currency is expensive, while digital is cheap, convenient and better. That is what the new normal looks like,” he added. 

READ OUR FULL COVERAGE ON THE MODI GOVT'S DEMONETISATION MOVE