Noteworthy e-pay push runs out of currency

NOT A ROSY PICTURE Several winners of ₹155cr lottery from Centre have fallen back on cash transactions due to lack of facilities

The Central government has given ₹153 crore in cash awards – ranging from ₹1,000 to ₹1 lakh — to about 10 lakh people selected through lottery since December 25 for adopting cashless transactions.

The awardees, the government said, had encouraging tales to tell about how digital payments had changed their lives .

Launched by the Niti Aayog, the lottery picks people daily for an award of ₹1,000 each and a bumper prize of ₹1 lakh every week. Aayog’s chief executive officer Amitabh Kant said the award was encouraging people to go cashless and wanted people to emulate the awardees by adopting digital transaction. Going cashless is the new mantra of the government, though PMNarendra Modi had initially projected his demonetisation measure – banning higher denomination currency – as a drive against black money. HT reporters went to meet several of the awardees to learn about their experiences with cashless economy. Though some painted a very rosy picture, not all shared the optimism. Some in fact, have fallen back on cash transactions. The agriculturist has won E1,000 for going cashless, but right now, 80% of his transactions are in cash. “Even shops that have POS machines prefer cash. If I tell them I do not have cash, they give goods on credit and wait for up to a week for cash payment,” the political science graduate says. “In fact, people want to save tax that they would have to pay when their transaction comes on record. They fear digital transactions will be monitored,” Giri said. While accepting the reward, he said, “Soon more and more will realise the ease of doing online transfer.” But now, he says digital transactions are his last option as most shops don’t have swipe machines. The dhaba owner, who won a E50,000 cash award, termed cashless spending as a 50-50 situation as he still makes cash transactions . Although the government said Shetty had started using digital payments at his eatery, Kaka ka Dhaba, when he heard about the ease of money transfer after demonetisation, the businessman told HT that he had installed a debit/credit card swipe machine way back in January 2015. Though his dependence and preference for cashless transactions increased since demonetisation , Shetty claims there are several roadblocks. “It will bring a lot of transparency and track the corrupt,” he says. She won E1 lakh under the government’s Lucky Grahak Yojana and the government quoted her saying that digital modes of payment would help to curb black money. When HT contacted her, Jayanthi said they used to do cashless transactions extensively before demonetisation. She said the government should provide more incentives for digital transactions and remove the hurdles. “I am fortunate to be able to use things, like a debit card and RuPay, for most of my transactions, but what of people who do not have access to those methods? ... you should make the transition much more comfortable,” said Jayanthi, who recently enrolled in masters in engineering. When Yadav, the only earning member of his family, won a lottery for cashless transaction, he told the government that cashless was better as getting change for high denomination notes was difficult. After having used online mode of payments for nearly three years, he told HT that he had opted for cashless transactions post-demonetisation, but the frequency reduced as cash flow in ATMs improved over the last few weeks. Saidulu said the digitisation of currency has led to additional burden on consumers as some shops in Suryapet and other bigger towns demand 1-2% extra on the cashless transaction in the name of surcharge. The government used Damodhar’s case study to say demonetisation had infused cashless transactions among people and the impact of note ban had eased. The reason cited by Asha for opting online payment mode was that one did not have to pay in round figures. The school teacher told HT that the situation after demonetisation was “not normal yet” and that “villagers still have problems paying through credit and debit cards.” “Many still believe hard cash is everything. We have to forego this notion first. The government will have to give some sops to encourage digital payment to make it popular,” she said, who provides tips to locals on digital payment. The government said this Haryana farmer opted for digital payments after the demonetisation and quoted him saying that scrapping of high-value notes has given enough reasons for everyone to shift to digital payments as they were “safe” and “convenient”. A winner of ~1 lakh, Beniwal told HT that he has not visited his bank since November 20 and made most transactions using his mobile phone. “All payments made to my labourers, my child’s school fees and even grocery stores were made online,” he said. Kuldeep, who dropped out of school after his father’s death, said the farming community can go cashless provided they get incentives and awareness.