Use cheques, cards to curb black money, says Arun Jaitley

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said India needs to increase the use of cheques and “plastic currency” to clamp down the menace of black money.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said India needs to increase the use of cheques and “plastic currency” to clamp down the menace of black money.

The government is also taking several steps to reduce incidence of high-value cash transactions, he said at the foundation day celebrations of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL). “Some steps have also been announced which make use of cash little difficult.”

He also said the government is trying to create a conducive environment, both in terms of taxation and ease of doing business, as investments won’t come just by opening doors.

At another event, he urged India to take immediate advantage of rising wage costs in China, to emerge as an alternate manufacturing hub. “Wages in China have gone up. That part of the world is now becoming costlier,” he said while addressing the annual day celebrations at Shri Ram College of Commerce. “Can the cost of our capital not be reasonable... all these issues of efficiency, quality improvement, that’s where the opportunity awaits us in creating mass jobs and that is the best possibility of India (in) removing poverty.”