After Rs 500, Rs 1,000, Modi govt may soon ban cheque books

Mumbai: After the demonetisation of high-value notes that overnight disrupted the economy, the Centre, in its move towards a "digital economy" may soon ban cheques, media reports suggest.

The Narendra Modi government had in 2016 banned the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that seized 86 per cent of the cash in circulation. The government had done so to move towards a cashless economy, powered by digitisation.

In its latest move towards the same, the government may be planning to ban cheque books. A senior official of the Confederation of All India Traders, Praveen



Khandelwal told PTI recently that in all probability, the Centre may withdraw the cheque book facility in the near future to encourage digital transactions.

Khandelwal, while speaking at the Digital Rath initiative, that aims to spread awareness about digital transactions, also said the government needs to incentivise payment through debit and credit cards. "The government spends Rs 25,000 crore on printing of currency notes and another Rs 6,000 crore on their security and logistics. Moreover, banks charge 1 per cent on payments through debit and 2 per cent through credit cards.