Union Minuster Piyush Goyal. (File Photo) Union Minuster Piyush Goyal. (File Photo)

Power Minister Piyush Goyal today described the decision to demonetise currency notes “100 per cent success” and said money which was not kept in bank accounts has come into formal economy and now is traceable. “We have never imagined that (black) money will not be deposited in banks. We have given 50 days time to deposit (old currency notes of Rs 500/1000) money,” Goyal told reporters. On the estimates that about Rs 4-5 lakh crore (of blackmoney) will not be deposited into banks, he said, “I think this would be your estimates. Government has never made such statement that will not come.”

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He further said, “Our countrymen are honest. It is possible that some tax has not been deposited which will be deposited. We have got 100 per cent success after this historic decision (demonetisation).”

Elaborating further he said,”The money which was not kept in bank accounts has come into formal economy and now it is traceable. It will reflect in GDP. People will earn interest income on these deposits.”

On misuse of Jan Dhan Accounts, he said, “Please don’t accuse all honourable people who have opened Jan Dhan accounts. It is possible that some people have done wrong. We will take action against those people.”

Goyal also said that government is working on encouraging use of point-of-sale (PoS) machines by reducing its rental to Rs 100-150 per month which, is presently Rs 500-700.

The cost of these machines ranges between Rs 4,000-8000 per unit. At present there are about 14 lakh PoS in the country provided by different banks. Traders’ association want to increase the number of these machines to two crore.

The minister also said that state-run Energy Efficiency Service Ltd (EESL) has already floated a tender to procure 10 lakh PoS machines and would try to reduce to price on the lines of LED bulbs.

EESL has reduced the procurement price of 9 watt LED bulbs from Rs 310 per unit to Rs 38 recently. These lights are provides to consumer through discoms and other channels at a retail price of Rs 65 per unit.

Minister also talked about incentivising digital transactions in the country to move toward less cash society.

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