Digital rupee can be exchanged for cash, says PM Modi

New Delhi: A day after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled Budget 2022-23 in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday its focus was on providing basic amenities to the poor, middle class and youth and stressed it was imperative that India becomes self-reliant.

Addressing the “Atmanirbha Arthavyavastha” (self-reliant economy) symposium organised by the BJP, Mr Modi also said that the digital rupee, proposed in the Budget, could be exchanged for cash and will open new opportunities in the fintech sector. He said the Reserve Bank’s digital currency will make online payments more secure and risk-free and boost the digital economy in the years ahead.

“The digital rupee will be the digital form of our physical rupee and will regulated by the RBI. This will be a system to enable the exchange of physical currency with digital currency,” Mr Modi said at the virtual meeting, attended by BJP chief ministers and party workers across India. “If anyone makes a payment in digital currency, you will be able to change it to cash.”

Mr Modi also said that in the post-Covid environment, the possibility of a new world order was emerging and there was a big change in the way the world was seeing India. “People, globally, want to see an empowered and strong India. It is imperative for us that we take our country forward at a rapid pace and strengthen it across several sectors,” said Mr Modi.

Mr Modi said that leaving politics aside, the Budget had been welcomed from almost all quarters.  He said the Budget had kept in mind the aspirations and dreams of the youth and had extended tax benefits for start-ups. The PM said India was known for affordable and high-speed Internet and soon all villages would have optical fibre connectivity. He also talked of development in the animation, visual effects, gaming and comic sector, and how India was among the top five gaming markets in the world.

The Prime Minister said migration from border villages was not good for national security and the Budget had made provision to develop “vibrant villages” at the border. He added that the government’s decisions in the last seven years had continuously enlarged the Indian economy. Seven to eight years ago India’s GDP was Rs 1.10 lakh crores, which was nearly Rs 2.3 lakh crores now.