Hyderabad: Cashless transactions in TS, as proposed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, will be a challenge to implement as 16.66 lakh of the total one crore households in the state have no formal schooling.
In 48.65 lakh households, the head of the family has no formal schooling.
Senior officials told Mr Rao at the Cabinet meeting held Monday that before taking a final decision on cashless transactions in TS, the government should assess ground realities.
Lakhs of people, particularly in rural areas, who have no formal schooling, may have to depend on others. There is possibility they may get cheated, the officials said. They said that at present, there are about 20,000 e-pos machines in the state of which only 1,200 are in rural areas.
The state will be forced to import about 50 lakh e-pos machines it would need, most probably from China, they said. Officials said that in India, only 2 per cent of the people use net banking while 98 per cent prefer cash transactions.
In TS, about 25 per cent of the total population has no account in banks or post offices and of this, 70 per cent are in rural areas. For cashless transactions, people should remember the PIN number and the process entailed, which could be difficult for rural people with no formal schooling, they said.
Officials said that many companies are moving away from net banking due to the threat of cyber criminals. They said that there are many instances of online bank accounts being hacked.
In TS, the literacy rate is 67 per cent. Officials said that without improving the literacy rate it is very difficult to implement cashless transactions in the state.
In cashless transactions, people should know how to operate an account on their own. If they depend on others, misuse is likely, they feared.
At present there are 20,000 swipe machines available in TS, of which, only 1,200 are in rural areas. Officials said about 50 lakh swipe machines are required in the state. Since these machines are not manufactured in India, they would have to be imported. Besides, each of these machines costs about '10,000, a sum small traders would find it difficult to afford.
