Goa Will Be First Indian State To Go Cashless, So Carry Your Card When You Visit This Season!

The New Year festivities are no surprise to Goa as thousands of tourists flock to the golden beaches to bring in the promise of a happy new year. This New Year, however, might be slightly different owing to demonetization and the after-effects being felt in the state. Goa has decided to become the first state to become cashless and is well on its way to educate its residents about it.

Right from small transactions with vegetable vendors to big transactions, people are being encouraged to use their debit and credit cards. For smaller purchases like groceries, you can transfer money by your phone. Chief Secretary R.K Srivastava said that every vendor who registers with the bank would be given an MMID code. “Once a person purchases fish, vegetable etc. the customer just needs to dial the designated number (*99#) and punch in details of her/his account and the amount the customer needs to transfer to the vendor and then the customer has to enter the MI code of the vendor to transfer the funds. Within no time, the money would be transferred from the customer’s account to the vendor’s account,” reported Times Of India.

Under 41 lakh tourists reportedly visited Goa in the year 2014. Using cash transactions for travel is a no brainer and springing a cashless policy in the wake of a chaotic demonetization seems confusing. The former CM of Goa Manohar Parrikar assured that the decision to go cashless in Goa was a well thought out one and they will fulfill the request made by PM Narendra Modi. Cash transactions haven’t been banned but people are being urged to adopt the new method because of the states financial status.

“Srivastava said that Goa has an added advantage to be become the first cashless society because it is a small state with about 15 lakh population and 17 lakh mobile phone connections. “We have 22 lakh bank accounts, which means that one person has more than one account,” he said. Most of the people in Goa use debit or credit cards while purchasing and hence it will not be a problem to go cashless, he added,” reported Times of India. Swiping of cards is acceptable at most destinations and the awareness drive has begun from Monday.

In a bid to adopt and make people adopt a more digital approach to finance, will the tourism industry suffer? As the festival season awaits, the liquor stores who mostly deal with cash transactions might have to face the crunch. “The success of the initiative will depend on how far the government is able to reach out to the traders and liquor vendors in the state. Special attention is being paid to the 10,000 registered liquor vendors and 26,000 registered traders in the state; most of them depend on cash transactions. Awareness drives are being launched on Nov. 28 at Mapusa and Panaji,” reported The Better India.

Feature Image Courtesy: Inkhabar.com