CAIT for 'less cash' economy instead of cashless economy

In the wake of recommendations of SIT on black money seeking a total ban on cash transaction of above Rs. 3 lakh and further recommending an upper limit of Rs.15 lakh for cash holding, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to undertake approach of “less cash economy” and not a “cashless economy” since much has to be done on the ground to go for cashless society.
“Curbing black money is certainly an important issue and we support all move and action of the Government in this regard but beginning the move, the policies should be framed to have a less cash society first and later on the same can be moved to cashless society, “said CAIT in a press release.
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Commenting upon recommendations of SIT panel, CAIT National President, B C Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said,”There is a need to identify the sources of black money generation first. Any ban on cash consumption without restricting its sources of generation will prove to be much counter productive,”
They added, “The existing provisions of Income Tax and other Acts bestow sufficient powers on the administrative officials to check black money consumption. A large population in the country is uneducated and still devoid of banking services and lack of bank access. Imposing blanket ban on cash transactions at the primary stage will be a regressive move.”
The confideration is already working on this agenda and is presently conducting a 40 days “less cash awareness campaign” across the country as a first step. Jaitley released a less cash roadmap document of CAIT on 6th July, 2016 at New Delhi. The CAIT has also asked all its constituents across the Country to observe forthcoming 15th August as a less cash day.
CAIT will also be launching its separate website on its less cash campaign soon.