Union Cabinet mulls ways to promote cashless transactions

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday discussed ways to promote cashless transactions by various ministries, which have been directed to promote the use of e-wallet and unified payments interface, informed sources said.

The Cabinet meeting -- presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- is also learnt to have approved the amendments to the Income Tax Act to levy tax on unaccounted deposits in banks after the November 8 demonetisation.

The sources in the Finance Ministry said on November 23 that post-demonetisation, a whopping Rs 21,000 crore had been deposited in Jan Dhan bank accounts across the country, with the maximum reported from West Bengal.

The second meeting of the Cabinet in as many days was held as opposition parties plan to hold protests across the country on November 28 over the government's demonetisation decision.

The government has demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to curb black money and corruption as well as to move the economy further towards digital transactions.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier in the day held a meeting through video conferencing with top executives of public and private sector banks.

He said physical currency must shrink while the economy should expand with more focus on the digital currency.