DEBATE: A Progressive India , is a Cashless , Plastic Card

In the opinion of the house I am against the motion on the topic A progressive India is a Cashless Plastic
society, let me tell you first that what is cashless society or the cashless economy comprising with the
instruments or the methods like Bank Cards ,ATMs ,USSD, POS(Point of Sale) or the card swiping ,Mobile
wallets(like Phone pe, Paytm, Mobikwik) Prepaid Cards, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking or Miro ATMs
Cashless economy: It is an economy in which all transactions are made without any physical cash like paper
currency. Rather involves digital technologies like virtual currency, online payment solutions, money transfer, e-
commerce, usage of debit/credit cards.

Is our great Nation India ready to opt for the cashless society. No, we are not ready. As progressive nation is the
one with its capitivative and social economy. Strongly posing against the motion there are lot many loop holes
for the developing countries which makes it not apt and significant for the country like India with mixed
economy structure to opt for.

The not-so-recent demonetisation of bank notes worth ₹500 and ₹1000 has been accompanied by a constant
push by the government to switch to a cashless economy.

Recently, the Prime Minister said that even beggars today have machines to swipe cards. In the same speech, he
claimed that cashless economy is the way to go and this is how Digital India will grow. Given the present cash
crunch, it is understandable that there is no other way for businesses to thrive, but a lot of entrepreneurs and
economists alike have expressed their reservations against this step.

While the digitization of records and availability of services online is one thing, online finances are an entirely
different ball game, and there is more than one reason why cashless payments are not a good fit for the India we
live in today: I would like to throw like on the following points which makes it relevant that our Nation is still
not ready for cashless plastic economy.

Financial Inclusion Let us acknowledge the fact that not everyone who contributes to or is a part of the
economy has a bank account. Even if they do have one, it is not easily accessible. I belong to a significantly
privileged section of the society, and yet most homemakers in my family do not have a bank account. Well,
access to bank , to be financially sound are also valid reasons . Many have no incentive to keep money in bank
accounts, and thus cannot switch to cashless transactions. For a lot of homemakers, savings are only secure if
they are hidden from their husbands and in-laws and thus going cashless is not an option they have.

The medium of Literacy Rate defines the purposeful use.

We are presently in a country where more than a quarter of the population cannot read and write. It is hard
enough for people who are barely literate to fill forms in banks to exchange their old notes, still harder to
participate in cashless transactions. A forceful shift to cashless payments only makes them more vulnerable to
fraud.

Technology is always the foremost factor in probably every field Penetration Of Technology.

Using the method of transacting without cash for smaller amounts is only feasible when you use mobile
applications as I gave the examples like Paytm, which requires you to have a smartphone and an internet
connection, which has extremely low penetration. Sometimes network may not be fine for connectivity then
what about the remote or rural areas .While Paytm now has introduced an offline payment feature, this is yet to
be used and tested.

Every method in society involves cost for it benefits provided Cost Of Transaction Cashless transactions are
definitely more convenient, but this convenience comes at a cost. There is an annual fee you pay to use a debit
card, per-transaction fee for a credit card and convenience charges for using web portals like irctc.co.in for using
their services. The reason why you have so many salesmen selling credit cards is because credit cards are very
profitable for banks. Also, if a merchant uses Paytm to collect payments, there is a 1% cut while transferring
that amount to their bank accounts. And several other luxurious charges too.
Who guarantees Protection Against Fraud .

The chances of fraud in online transactions is what has kept my father from using net banking or credit cards,
this is quite a valid concern. In fact, not too long before the announcement of demonetisation of notes, Indian
banks had experienced a major setback related to the security of debit card PINs. Also the major case of
Hacking.

How to be in that Idea of consent

Even if everyone in the country was prepared to go cashless, would it be fair to push them into transacting
without cash when they do not want to? If my father is not comfortable using a debit card, even though if his
concerns are not ‘valid’, does anyone have the right to mandate him in doing so? It is one thing to incentivise
and another to make it the only choice.

Whatever have been the intentions behind this massive change, a country as large as ours, was not prepared to
handle any of this. As we curse and criticize the implementation of the move, let us keep in mind that it was not
supposed to be a smooth move. Any major change on such a large scale is met with obstacles, especially when
the stakeholders of the change are absolutely not in a state to handle it.

THANK YOU.