A study carried out by Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion (CDFI) has indicated that the government’s move to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes has broadened the scope for digitisation with around 63 percent retailers in rural as well as urban India willing to use digital payments such as mobile payments and card payments. The study, which was done in two stages i.e. pre-demonetisation and post-demonetisation, found growing acceptance of digital transaction among retailers before note ban. However, it observed that after note ban, more and more small traders showed their willingness to adopt the new payment gateways.
The study further showed that till March 2017, the actual cashless transaction was only 11 percent, though the interview showed 63 percent retailers willing for it. It also noticed that there was 11 percent digital transaction across the board, whether rural or urban areas and the perception has changed substantially with large number of people willing to embrace it. Adding further, it noted that as note ban pushed the demand for cashless transaction, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced that additional 10 lakh point-of-sale would be made available in the market. It also highlighted that the country had 94 percent mobile users of which 41 percent people had smart phone, which was a good sign to adopt cashless payment.
The CDFI further said that the road to digital transaction was faced with many challenges, and citied that opening the current accounts was still a complicated process. It was also noted that a fear existed among retailers that usage of digital platform would bring them in the tax net. Therefore, it pointed out that the fear could be countered by carrying out awareness campaign. It also feels that more digital interface would help create a transaction history for the small retailers and enable them to get loans from banks. It added that this would pave way for more entrepreneurs emerging from different parts of the country.
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