Country can be made cashless by Feb: Maha CM Fadnavis

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday asked bankers to help realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for a cashless economy.

"Let us accept the challenge, plan accordingly and make cashless economy possible as appealed by our PM Narendra Modi ji," Fadnavis said, addressing an urgent meeting of State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) in Mumbai.

Fadnavis said the country could be made cashless in 2-3 months if tireless efforts were put into it.

Fadnavis had called this meeting to discuss cashless transactions, increasing modes of e-payments, facilitating transactions in rural areas for farmers, traders and transporters, a CMO official said.

Minister Subhash Deshmukh, Secretaries of various Departments, representatives from RBI, SBI, BOM, BOI, NABARD and mobile wallet companies were present.

The issue of cash requirements for rural bank branches for Kharif harvest marketing and Rabi sowing and crop loans was also discussed on Sunday.

It was decided to use all 'Aaple Sarkar' Centres in Maharashtra for digital banking facilities to bring major relief at Gram Panchayat level, the official said.

Banks agreed to provide single form to easily transfer cash from farmers account to authorised dealers' account for purchase of seeds, pesticides etc.

Fadnavis congratulated bank officials for working extra hours and smoothly handling pressure. He appealed to them to work in the same way for a few more days, the official said.

"We have to work for farmers and even for farm labourers. We need to increase number of Point of Sale to bring ease for people in this situation," he said.