Government working on ‘Maha Wallet’ to encourage cashless transactions in state

In the wake of the post-demonetization cash crunch, the Maharashtra government is working on a ‘Maha wallet’ to encourage cashless transactions in the state.

“I have told the Information Technology department to prepare a report (based on the proposal) in this regard and submit it to me in a fortnight,” Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told news agency PTI.

“Maha wallet will be a secure e-service where the citizens’ money would be secure. We are working on a system where needs of each of the 11.97 crore population of the state are being considered,” the Minister said.

According to reports, the IT department proposal will consider various aspects like the needs of the technologically challenged people, feature phone users, people who don’t use net banking or mobile phones etc.

“We want to ensure that the system is modelled to help small vendors, farmers and all those who deal in cash transactions,” he said.

The wallet will also keep a track of the amount deposited by users and how many of them transact using netbanking or debit/credit cards.

“Efforts are on to make a less cash society since being cashless is difficult. We want to create a system where citizens will be required to carry less cash with them,” Mungantiwar said.

The matter will be taken up with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for further action once the final proposal is received.

Incidentally, the Maharashtra CM is also a member of the committee appointed by the Centre on promotion of cashless society.

In a previous meet with the panel members, Fadnavis had asked stakeholders to cater to the needs of farmers, labourers from unorganised sector and small vendors first.

Meanwhile, existing mobile wallets like Paytm and Freecharge witnessed a massive surge in the number of users since demonetization. Although a majority of their existing users are tech savvy and from metros, they are now trying hard to make inroads to semi-urban and rural areas.