Increase the amount of cash payments along with digital payments

Mumbai, Ta. Thursday, October 22, 2020

On October 8, the currency in the hands of the people of the country rose by 2.50 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2.08 trillion. This increase has been seen as people have the mentality of maintaining cash on hand in times of epidemics. If digital payments have increased in recent times.

A year ago, cash on hand saw a growth of 19.50 per cent. On March 31 this year, a total of Rs 3.50 trillion in cash was found in the hands of the people, which increased to Rs 4.03 trillion on October 8.

This indicates that with the implementation of the lockdown in the country after March, people have withdrawn an additional Rs 2.50 trillion from banks. Within a fortnight ending October 3, the number of currency in the hands of the people had increased by Rs 3 crore, according to RBI data.

In the first 15 days of October, the number of transactions through UPI jumped to 1 billion. Experts believe that this figure will jump to two billion in the coming festive season.

As small shopkeepers in the country still stay away from the digital payments mode, people in small towns and rural areas will continue to have more and more cash on hand during the upcoming festivals.