-The Indian Express Reserve Bank of India data for October 2016 put the number of debit cards in the country at 94.2 crore. New Delhi: The Centre’s digital push stares at a debit card usage problem: nine of ten cards are used solely for cash withdrawals at ATMs. Reserve Bank of India data for October 2016 put the number of debit cards in the country at 94.2 crore. People used debit cards for...

-The Hindu Public sector insurers, oil-marketing firms and others not to take a hit for cashless push The Centre has decided to bear the burden imposed on public sector firms on account of the many discounts and incentives offered to promote digital payments. The plan is to create a new expenditure head in the exchequer’s accounts that will absorb the costs of such measures. Public sector insurers, oil-marketing firms and others will thus not...

-The Tribune Industries reduce number of shifts as sales fall Faridabad: Industrial units here have started laying off the excess employees, courtesy demonetisation. In the past one month since Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were declared invalid, around 45,000 employees, mostly contractual, have reportedly lost their job in this industrial city. A large number of employees who received their salaries through cheque are still waiting to cash it due to delay in...

-The Economic Times One month after demonetisation, the Supreme Court is hearing several public interest petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the “demonetisation notification”, which declared that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would no longer be legal tender post midnight on November 8, 2016. The preamble to the notification stated that its objective was to eliminate fake currency used for financing terrorism and to address the problem of “unaccounted money” in...

-The Hindu The government has declared an incentive package to encourage non-cash payments for fuel, new insurance policies from public sector firms, train tickets and highway toll, among other things. For credit and debit card transactions up to Rs.2,000, the Reserve Bank of India has relaxed its stringent two-factor authentication requirement, and service tax stands waived. Taken together, these moves to encourage cashless payments are significant not just because they can...