Nirmala Sitharaman made a big statement regarding the 500 rupee note, will it affect your pocket?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasized on the circulation of small denomination notes and promoting digital transactions. She also discussed the future of the Rs 500 note and expressed the need to increase digital awareness.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that the government's priority is to ensure that there are "smaller denomination" notes in circulation and spread more awareness for "digital transactions". Responding to a question on the future of the Rs 500 note, Sitharaman said, "We are making every effort to ensure that there are smaller denomination notes in circulation, which are used more than the bigger notes because the ₹2000 note has almost completely gone out of circulation, except possibly 0.02% which is still out. The rest of the people have deposited it in banks."

"We need to increase digital awareness so that people see the benefits in doing digital transactions," the Union Finance Minister said at the National Memorial Seminar on '60 Years of Humanism Lecture' at the 'Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Integrated Centre for Digital Transactions' in the national capital. In recent years, India has witnessed unprecedented growth in digital transactions, which is a significant milestone towards becoming a cashless society.

At the forefront of India's digital payments revolution is UPI, which processed a record 16.73 billion transactions in December 2024. In addition, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and FASTag are playing a vital role, making financial transactions faster, more accessible and secure. According to recent data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI has set a new record by processing over 16.73 billion transactions, with a transaction value of Rs 23.25 lakh crore. This is a significant increase from Rs 21.55 lakh crore in November. In 2024, UPI processed nearly 172 billion transactions, a 46 per cent increase from 117.64 billion in 2023. This growth underlines a broader cultural shift towards financial inclusion, of which UPI is a central pillar. (ANI)

PC:Asianetnews