Railways to go cashless for its Rs 1.20 lakh crore Capex: Suresh Prabhu

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said that the Indian Railways would go "entirely cashless" for its Rs 1.20 lakh crore capital expenditure (capex) and all the tenders would be available through "e-tender".

"Railways has Rs 1.20 lakh crore capex this year and all the contracts will be available on e-tenders. Even the end-users and vendors would be sensitised to use cashless channels like e-wallets," Prabhu said on Tuesday evening while addressing members of the EEPC India here.

"Even the end-users and vendors would be sensitised to use cash less channels like e-wallets." 

Prabhu advised exporters to get their complete `value chain` digitally connected to become more competitive in the global market.

"By embarking upon such an ambitious programme of digitising its economy, India would be the first major economy in the world to have done this," Prabhu elaborated. 

Hailing the government`s November 8, 2016, demonetisation decision, Prabhu said: "Difficult days do not last long." 

"Thanks to the Prime Minister`s initiative, the way we do business in India would change and the costs should be calculated in the context of benefits. The benefits would outweigh the costs," Prabhu added. 

The Indian Railways, which has a six billion passenger traffic every year, does 58% of its ticketing online, without cash.