AMN / DHAKA
India’s Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said a cash-based economy works against the poor and supports corruption.
He said if an economy depends mostly on cash, the curse of cash hits the country leading to tax evasion and corruption. Besides a lot of terror activities thrive in a cash-based economy.
Mr. Jaitley said this while addressing a select audience of top politicians, academicians & researchers and business leaders during his talk on ‘Macroeconomic Initiatives of the Indian Economy’ in Dhaka this afternoon.
Outlining the initiatives taken by the Indian government to move towards a less-cash economy, Jaitley narrated the success story of Prime Minister Modi’s flagship project ‘Pradhan Montri Jan Dhan Yojna’ under which the government has brought India’s un-banked population into the banking network by opening 300 million bank accounts within a period of 3 years.
He also spoke about the government’s steps to target subsidies to the poor and the deserving through direct cash transfers through Jan Dhan accounts. Giving a further push to less-cash economy, Mr.Jaitley launched a scheme of cashless visa services of the Indian High Commission. He also inaugurated the Dhaka Representative Office of the EXIM Bank of India.
Earlier in the morning, Dhaka and Delhi signed an Agreement for the implementation of the third Credit Line of 4.5 billion Dollar, the funds of which will be used for 17 priority infrastructure projects including electricity, roads, shipping and ports.
Mr.Jaitley said India has stood by Bangladesh’s attempts to develop and will do so in future. The Credit line, the biggest that India has offered to any nation so far, is a significant contribution in continuation of those efforts, he said.
India has earlier given two more Lines of Credit in 2010 and 2015 respectively bringing the total amount of Credit to 8 billion dollars. The funds are being used for priority infrastructure and in social sectors.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India has always stood by Bangladesh’s efforts to develop and will do so in future.
The government’s push towards less cash economy was seen in the inauguration of a scheme of cashless transactions for visa services of the Indian High Commission.
