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Bloomberg
India has become the first nation to subsidize the use of digital cash after the government unveiled a raft of measures including discounts on online payments for insurance policies, rail tickets and highway toll charges.
Exactly 30 days after junking existing high-value 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought to draw Indians toward digital payments by offering up to 10 percent off on insurance policies, highway usage and concessions on train travel. The government will also waive service tax on online transactions below 2,000 rupees ($29.6), he added. Apart from these, there will be a 0.75 percent discount at petrol stations even though oil companies currently add a surcharge for using debit or credit cards.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is scampering to reduce a reliance on cash as the nation of 1.3 billion grapples with a severe currency shortage after he outlawed four-fifths of the its currency on Nov. 9.