Come budget, digital pay will be less taxing for customers

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BENGALURU: The government will make it cheaper for people to transact digitally through taxation measures for digital payments as it aims to transform the way Indians pay for goods and services. It will be part of a series of measures to further thedemonetisation exercise underway since November and will be announced soon with more measures expected in the annual budget, according to Amitabh Kant, chief executive of government think tank NITI Aayog.

"We will make digital transactions cheaper than cash transactions, and the market forces will take over," said Kant while speaking at an annual not-for-profit initiative of the alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Currently, cash transactions, don't attract an additional charge while those transacting digitally are levied a fee. "The government is saying it will ensure people with digital transactions are supported through various taxation measures.That will happen in the next few days. Several measures have been announced by the finance minister but many more will be announced in the budget, I am sure," said Kant.

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Come budget, digital pay will be less taxing for customers
By Mugdha Variyar & J Vignesh, ET Bureau | Updated: 19 Dec, 2016, 08:12 hrs IST

• demonetisation exercise underway since November and will be announced soon with more measures expected in the annual budget, according to Amitabh Kant, chief executive of government think tank NITI Aayog.
  
  "We will make digital transactions cheaper than cash transactions, and the market forces will take over," said Kant while speaking at an annual not-for-profit initiative of the alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology in Bengaluru on Saturday.
  
  Currently, cash transactions, don't attract an additional charge while those transacting digitally are levied a fee. "The government is saying it will ensure people with digital transactions are supported through various taxation measures.That will happen in the next few days. Several measures have been announced by the finance minister but many more will be announced in the budget, I am sure," said Kant.
  startupsto target global markets to improve India's exports, citing the example of countries such as Japan, China and South Korea that have seen massive growth by selling to overseas markets. Kant exhorted Indian founders to think global. " Uber operates in 500 cities and Tesla is penetrating all global markets... All our startups are thinking small in size and scale," he said.
  
  The government was throwing open 'grand challenges' to solve several issues in the country. "We have identified six key problems from thousands of problems that India needs a solution for from the rest of the world," said Kant but did not elaborate on the chosen areas.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...taxing-for-customers/articleshow/56057186.cms