As there is excess cash of about Rs 2.5-3 lakh crore floating in the economy, a further push to digital mandate is possible, the government said today citing SBI research.
State Bank of India has published 9 research reports on the estimated cash supply by Reserve Bank of India after the demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes, announced on November 8, 2016.
"SBI research report estimates till March 10, 2017 pegged newly supplied currency as a percentage of the extinguished currency (Rs 15.44 trillion) be around 65 per cent," Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar today said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
"SBI has indicated that since there is excess currency/ cash floating in economy in the range of Rs 2.5-3 lakh crore (if SBI juxtapose the growth of the economy to the growth of total currency), further push to digital mandate is possible," he added.
The SBI initial report was based on different scenarios with assumption of different denomination notes getting printed in December 2016, January 2017 and February 2017, the minister noted.
Gangwar further said that with petrol pump transactions amounting to Rs 4.5 lakh crore on an annualised basis, even a 20 per cent shift to digital would mean a saving of Rs 1 lakh crore.
"Hence, promote and incentivise petrol pump to go digital completely," he said.
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