Physical currency must shrink: Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday that physical currency must shrink while the economy should expand, shifting more and more focus to digital currency. He said that one of the major objectives of withdrawal of legal tender status on Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes was to move the Indian economy further towards digital transactions.

Finance minister made these comments while reviewing the status after demonetisation of currency with CMDs and CEOs of Public and Private Sector Banks in a video conferencing. “In this direction, most banks have already begun a promotional exercise by waiving-up to end December MDR charges on debit cards. Banks will now be focusing on significantly stepping-up transactions in mission mode through alternate banking channels such as NEFT, mobile wallets, pre-paid cards, QR codes, pay-roll cards, debit and credit cards and Unified Payments Interface (UPI),” finance ministry said.

Apart from urban areas, finance ministry said banks will increase and sustain their focus on semi-urban and rural areas. This outreach would be backed-up by an advertising campaign from Indian Bankers Association including demonstration videos on how to use cards and other modes for cash less transactions.