Budget 2017: Govt gives digital push, announces ban on cash transaction above Rs 3 lakh

In order to push digital payments, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on Wednesday, in his Budget speech said that the government has decided that no transaction above Rs 3 lakh will be permitted in cash. 

The suggestion to ban cash transaction above Rs 3 lakh has been accepted by Special Investigation Team on Black Money. Jaitley proposed an amendment to the Income-tax Act in the Finance Bill for the same. 

Moreover, the Finance Minister also proposed to limit the cash expenditure allowable as deduction, both for revenue as well as capital expenditure, up to Rs 10,000. Similarly, the limit of cash donation which can be received by a Charitable Trust is being reduced from Rs 10,000 to Rs 2000.

To promote cashless transactions, the Finance Minister in the Budget has proposed to exempt BCD, Excise/CV duty and SAD on miniaturised POS card reader for m-POS, micro ATM standards version 1.5.1, Finger Print Readers/Scanners and Iris Scanners. He also proposed to exempt parts and components for manufacture of such devices, so as to encourage domestic manufacturing of these devices.

Further, to strengthen the digital payment infrastructure and grievance handling mechanisms, the Finance Minister said steps would be taken to promote and possibly mandate petrol pumps, fertilizer depots, municipalities, Block offices, road transport offices, universities, colleges, hospitals and other institutions to have facilities for digital payments, including the recently launched BHIM App.