Demonetisation in Telangana: No pain: government; No gain: people

HYDERABAD: A year after high-value notes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 were withdrawn from circulation, the impact and fears of demonetisation seem to have faded in Telangana. There wasn’t much impact on the State exchequer or general public, say experts. Cash worth Rs 70,000 crore has returned to banks since the note ban last November 8. Officials of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) recently informed the finance department that the entire money withdrawn in the State has been pumped back into the system. They claim there is no shortage of cash anymore.

Except for the initial slowdown in property registrations and consequent dip in stamps and registration department’s income, there has been no major impact on State government. Now, people are paying stamp fee in digital mode and the State has already realised more than 70 per cent of its estimated Rs 3,000 crore revenue for this financial year. The change primarily has been the increase in digital payments by general public. “For the last one year, there has been a steady increase in digital payments in the state,” an official in the finance department told Express.

According to sources, the total number of digital transactions recorded in the country since January this year are 20,18,43,07,295. Accordingly, the all-India per capita digital transactions are recorded as 2,560 per every 1,000 population. With regard to Telangana state, the total digital transactions recorded since the beginning of the current calendar year are 34,03,77,281. The  per capita digital transactions per every 1,000 population are 9,671.73. “It means that, on an average, every person in the state is doing nine digital transactions,” the official sources pointed out.

The per capita digital transactions in the state in January were just 2,804 in number per 1,000 people. Telangana stood number one in the country in January as far as per capita digital transactions were concerned. Now, the same has touched 9,671.73. The number of such transactions tripled from January to November  from 10 crore to 34 crore. Digital transactions are likely to go up further in the state as bankers have come forward to withdraw or reduce Merchant Discount Rates. “The HDFC Bank has already announced a cut in MDR and other banks may also follow suit, which will give further fillip to digital payment mode,” the sources said.