Going Cashless: Is India Ready for Digital?

Cash, alas, is not free; its use comes at a significant cost. I have studied the cost of cash in over 70 countries, in research outlined in a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, titled ‘The Countries that Would Profit Most from a Cashless World’. Typically, these costs include costs to consumers (including ATM fees, money changers, etc. and the implicit cost of time spent to collect cash), costs to businesses (for handling cash and ensuring its security and transportation to safe locations), costs to banks and other institutions (for moving and storing cash, operating and maintaining ATMs) and costs to the government (from foregone tax revenues and because of costs of printing money). India’s costs of cash score among the highest in a global comparison.