The Digital Rupee and Black Money in India: Perceptions of Cash Intensive Trades and their Advisers in South Mumbai

Author

Swechha Jain


Abstract

 This study asks whether people who work in India's cash-intensive trades, and the bankers and tax professionals who serve them, believe the Digital Rupee (e-rupee) can curb black money, and what conditions would make it work. The setting is South Mumbai. A seven-item structured questionnaire was completed by a purposive sample of 59 (every contact on the author's list) jewellery, bullion, diamond and gemstone traders, wholesale and trading businesses, real estate agents, tax professionals and bankers. Official data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Government of India frame the results. Awareness is low: 32 of 59 had not heard of the e-rupee or knew only the name, in line with official data showing e-rupee at about 0.03 per cent of currency in circulation. The expected reduction in black money is moderate (mean 3.20 of 5) and rises with familiarity (rho = 0.75, p < 0.001). Of the 59, 37 would shift some transactions, but 16 of the 23 who see evasion as very widespread would do so only under a mandate or incentive, or not at all, against 6 of 36 others (Fisher p < 0.001). Respondents ask most often for ease of use, consistent enforcement and zero cost or tax benefits. Traceability is seen as necessary but not sufficient. Findings are perceptions, not behaviour, and the sample is purposive, so they do not describe Mumbai or India.



Keywords

CBDC; Digital Rupee; e-rupee; black money; tax evasion; cash; South Mumbai; India



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References


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