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I absolutely detest government intervention in any aspect of the society. In fact, I suffered personally like a billion others because of this crap that the gov

I absolutely detest government intervention in any aspect of the society. In fact, I suffered personally like a billion others because of this crap that the government unleashed on us. I am just seeing the brighter side of things. I can't comment on the convenience of digital wallets for all sections of the society. For the urban middle class I can say with conviction, that digital wallets trump cash. The biggest obstacle for digital wallet adoption were the mom and pop shops. Now even a juice vendor accepts PayTM. I don't think the wallets are as harsh as the credit card guys on the merchants. So I see the adoption as a win-win, at least for the urban middle class. All of this doesn't negate the endless suffering ulneashed by the cash crackdown though.

intended 8y ago
This is the half narrative that needs to be made completed for us Indians to have an actual discussion. How about this scenario - the govt one days makes every Indian pay a fine for holding cash, instead of using one of the many private e-cash wallets out there. This would be a massive state subsidy given to digital players- but would it be fair or correct workings of the market economy? Instead if the market was left to itsel the wallets would have invested in ways to convince people and improve services, all the while paying taxes and adding to govt coffers. One model is wealth creation and the other is regulatory waste paid by us at astronomical costs (1% gdp growth for better metro city use of e wallets??) No one who talks about this seems to mention the opportunity cost and massive wastage for effectively a one off payment to advertise private entities.