Govt offers 2% discount on GST

New Delhi, Aug 29: The central government has been planning to give tax concessions to promote cashless transactions. It proposed to offer a 2 per cent discount on the goods-service tax (GST), while purchase bill up to Rs.2000.

The proposal made by the Finance Ministry is currently under consideration by the Reserve Bank. This discount will be in the form of a cash refund or immediate discount. The idea is to incentivise all kinds of digital payments, especially smaller transactions, in line with the government's plan of making India a less-cash economy," IT official said.

The IT ministry is leading the government's efforts on digital payments and has been taking stock of initiatives to further popularise electronic payments.

A recent meeting analysed digital payment transactions post demonetisation last November. It was attended by IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and senior officials from other wings of the government, including the finance ministry and the cabinet secretary's office.

As per the RBI, the number of electronic transactions went up from 67 crore in November last year to a peak of 89 crore in March this year. However, only 84 transactions were recorded in June.