Following the demonetization, digital payment services have been on a rise in India. The central government has been pushing businesses and individuals to rely on a cash-light economy. The cashless transactions are easing out the lives of the people as well as authenticating and formalizing the transactions made.
In a step further, Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman during the Union budget in July, 2019, notified that businesses with a turnover of INR 50 crore and more will have to pay a fine of INR 5,000 per day if they do not offer online payment facilities to its customers. The Finance Act was in fact modified to include this section. This has definitely pushed the businesses to move to the digital payment platform.
The Digital India Programme of the Government of India, with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society, is also helping in providing an inclusive cashless environment to the businesses in India. Many digital payment methods like USSD, UPI, Mobile Wallets, Point of Sale, Micro ATMs, Debit Cards are being used extensively to make payments.
Having said that, India still has a long way to go before it becomes a major cashless economy