To encourage customers to adopt cashless banking, Madhya Pradesh government on Monday said it had decided to waive fees on transactions involving cheques, demand drafts, RTGS (real time gross settlement) and NEFT (national electronic fund transfer) at the cooperative banks.
"We have decided to waive the fees charged for banker's cheque, DD, RTGS and NEFT," Cooperative Minister Vishwas Sarang said.
Customers of 38 cooperative banks and the apex cooperative bank would benefit from this waiver, he said.
Madhya Pradesh was the first state to offer such an incentive to the customers of cooperative banks, he claimed.
"We are also providing point of sale (PoS) machines to cooperative societies," Sarang said, adding that workshops to educate people about digital transactions were being held.
There are over 40,000 co-op societies in the state, he said, adding that the rural populace was ready to switch over to cashless economy.
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"Cashless system may be a big challenge for cooperative banks but not a difficult one. If we change people's perceptions, it will be easy for us to establish cashless system," he said.
Cooperative banks reach up to 70 per cent population of the state, Sarang said.
"Major chunk of population of the state is linked to the cooperative banks and societies. So the implementation of cashless system is a big challenge before us," he said.
The tradition of cashless economy dates as far as back to Mohenjodaro and also existed during the times of Chanakya, Mughals and the British, said the minister.
"Today we have to present this system to the people in a new form and new context," he added.