Stop using cash, try paying only digitally for at least a month, says PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians living in the country to stop relying on cash for transactions and instead pay digitally, a habit the government has been seeking to inculcate in citizens as part of its digital economy efforts.

In the 107th edition of his public outreach programme ‘Maan ki Baat’, Modi urged citizens to make payments only through the digital mode for at least a month.

“Decide for yourself that for one month you will make payments only through UPI (Unified Payments Interface) or any digital medium, and not through cash,” he said. “The success of the digital revolution in India has made this absolutely possible.”

UPI transactions are gradually becoming more widespread across the country, and cash in circulation is finally seeing a decline.

Less currency in circulation has multiple benefits: less leakage of deposits, positive impact on monetary transmission, and higher savings in seigniorage costs, which is the difference between the value of a currency note or coin and the cost of producing it.

In October, as the festive season leading up to Diwali began, India registered more than 11 billion UPI transactions worth Rs17.16 lakh crore, according to the National Payments Corporation of India.

Overall, business worth over Rs4 lakh crore were conducted during the festive season amid tremendous enthusiasm among people to buy ‘Made in India’ products, the Prime Minister said.

“Just as the very success of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ is becoming its inspiration, the success of ‘Vocal For Local’ is opening the doors to a ‘Developed India, Prosperous India’. This campaign of ‘Vocal For Local’ strengthens the economy of the entire country,” he said.

“The ‘Vocal For Local’ campaign is a guarantee of employment. This is a guarantee of development; this is the guarantee of balanced development of the country. This provides equal opportunities to both urban and rural people.”

Continuing on the same theme, the Prime Minister also questioned why some “big families” chose to celebrate weddings abroad.

“Some trade organisations estimate that there could be a business of around Rs5 lakh crore during this wedding season,” he said.

“These days a new milieu is being created by some families to go abroad and conduct weddings. Is this at all necessary? If we celebrate the festivities of marriages on Indian soil, amid the people of India, the country’s money will remain in the country.”

Prime Minister Modi, whose latest ‘Maan ki Baat’ episode coincided with the 15th anniversary of the 26/11 terror attack, also paid tribute to the people who lost their lives during the carnage.

“It was on this very day that the country had come under the most dastardly terror attack. Terrorists had made Mumbai shudder… along with the entire country,” he said.

“But it is India’s fortitude that made us surmount the ordeal; we are now quelling terror with full ardour. I pay homage to all of them who lost their lives in the Mumbai attack.”

On 26 November 2008, 10 terrorists infiltrated Mumbai and launched attacks at several locations in the city. These attacks killed 166 and injured over 300 people.

The prime minister also emphasised that India was witnessing a steady rise in applications for intellectual properties.

“You will be pleased to know that there has been an increase of more than 31% in patent applications by Indians in 2022,” he said.

“The World Intellectual Property Organization has released a very interesting report. This report shows that this has never happened earlier even in the top 10 countries that are at the forefront in filing patents.”