Use cheques, cards to check black money, says Jaitley

Tribune News Service & PTI

New Delhi, March 27

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said there was a need to take steps to encourage people to use cheques and “plastic currency” to tackle the generation of black money.

He said with the progress in the growth of economy, more and more people should be incentivised to use plastic money such as credit cards, Rupay cards and cheques or any other negotiable instruments. They should be discouraged to use hard currency or unaccounted money, he added.

Jaitley was speaking at the foundation day function of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) here today.

The Finance Minister said most developed countries such as the UK and the USA have a highest denomination of currency in form of 50 pound and 100 dollar currency notes, respectively. He said this helped in discouraging hoarding and use of unaccounted wealth.

He said as a result of financial inclusion, more and more households were now connected to banks and RuPay cards had been issued to even those who are below the poverty line. He said there was a need to launch a campaign to create awareness among them for using more and more RuPay cards which could be a game changer as far as India is concerned.

‘Govt creating environment conducive to investments’

The government is trying to create a conducive environment, both in terms of taxation and ease of doing business, as investments won’t come just by opening doors, the Finance Minister said on Friday.

The new government has endeavoured to restore credibility of the Indian economy and the decision-making process in order to boost investments, domestic as well as foreign, he said while addressing investors at the ‘Urja Sangam’ conference.

The government, he said, was focusing on “quick and effective decision making”, as the country needs huge amount of investments.

“Investment has to be both domestic and international and for that we have to in the first instance open our doors for that investment. But merely by opening doors, investments won’t come,” Jaitley said.