Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Lok Sabha on Friday that the government wanted to reduce the use of physical currency in the economy and substitute it with digital money.

A cashless society would mean less investment in handling cash, transparency in payments and check on fake currency, the Finance Minister he said in reply to a question by Prahlad Joshi (BJP).

Amid noisy Opposition protests against demonetisation, Jaitley said out of 80 crore debit cards, 40 crore were being actively used at ATMs. Electronic wallets and digital transfer of funds was the future technology which the government is encouraging and has asked various state governments to contribute, he added.

Jaitley also informed the House that a dedicated fund under depositor education and awareness fund was in place for expanding acceptance, infrastructure and conducting an awareness campaign among people for a cashless society.

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