Less cash townships

In order to achieve the target of 2500 crore digital transactions during the current financial year, the Government has announced select townships spread all over India as ‘less-cash townships’. These townships are likely to generate over 1.5 lakh digital transactions every day thereby leading to about 5.5 crore digital transactions in a year. The initiative has been launched by NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog.

Criteria for selection of cashless / less-cash townships

A less-cash township is one where

• Deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure is complete
• All the families in the township are covered under training programs
• More than 80% of the total number of transactions in the township being done through digital modes

The townships so selected have been subjected to independent third party assessment by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC).

Cashless / less-cash townships

81 townships with 2 lakh population spread across 12 states have been announced as cashless / less cash townships. Of the 81 townships, 56 are in Gujarat.

The townships include those of central public sector companies such as ONGC, Indian Oil, NTPC, SAIL, BHEL, NMDC, CRPF, BSF and Police Lines and private sector townships like Reliance, Essar, Adani, Birla Aditya, Welspun spread across 12 States, including Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Chhatisgarh.

Source : PIB