Published Paper Details:

In 1597 Sir Francis Bacon gave the famous quote " knowledge is power " and in 2015 our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi quoted that " I dream of a Digital India where access to information knows no barrier." It is this vision of our Prime Minister that led to the Digital India campaign. it is a flagship programme of the Government of India which aims at connecting even the rural areas with high speed internet networks and improving digital literacy. digital India consist of three core components : (a) development of secure and stable digital infrastructure, (b) delivering Government services digitally and (c) universal digital literacy. A cashless Society is one where financial transactions are not conducted with money in the form of physical banknotes or coins, but rather through the transfer of digital information usually an electronic representation of money between the transacting parties, India has one of the highest cash to gross domestic product ratio in the world. According to 2014 study by Tufts University, "the cost of cash in India", cash operations cost the reserve bank of india and commercial banks about Rs 21,000 crore annually. Digital India proved to be a great boon during the demonetization move of the government of India. After demonetization, villagers, local vendors and farmers are slowly getting used to digital transactions. India may not become a fully cashless economy in the foreseeable future,but it needs to reduce its unusually high dependence on cash to bring in much needed transparency and efficiency in the system. The present study is an attempt to understand the benefits of a cashless economy and how the Digital Initiative could impact the change.