Digital transactions rising in unorganised sector: Saraswat

Electronic transactions following the government's drive to promote digital economy have risen satisfactorily and even the unorganised sector has understood the benefits, Niti Aayog member V K Saraswat has said.
"Digital transactions are also happening. In fact, if you read today's papers, 65 lakh transactions have taken place in BHIM (the app released by the Centre) itself. It is very satisfactory (progress)," Saraswat told PTI here.
There had been a slump in the economy following the demonetisation of high-value currency in November last year, but things have stabilised now, he said.
"Actually, demonetisation had a slight slump... But it has already come on (even) keel," he said.

"Today, there is availability of money in the market. Even the unorganised sector has understood that PoS (point of sale) is a better method rather than counting cash," Saraswat said.
The PoS sale has increased "quite a lot" and the government is making efforts to increase its availability.

"We are importing a lot of PoS machines. The rate of production has not caught up yet. So, we are improving that. And also, the import has been allowed at a subsidised rate," he said.
Except the unorganised sector like textiles and garment where transactions take place on credit, the PoS sales have found greater traction in organised sectors, Saraswat said.

He made a point that the promotion of digitisation will lead to increased efficiency, reduced corruption and improved outreach.
The number of cellphones in the country is close to almost one billion now and that itself shows the outreach is increasing, the Niti Aayog member added.