There is a cash crunch in India and several ATMs across the country have gone dry. These are some ways which will help you beat the sudden shortage of cash.
Use of plastic cards has increased after demonetization and the governments push towards a cashless economy. Now, in almost all places, debit and credit cards are accepted. You can use debit and credit cards to pay bills at restaurants and malls to reduce use of cash.
Banks provide you a fixed number of free monthly ATM transactions and after completion of these free transactions, you will be charged for withdrawals. You will have to pay these charges only if you exceed the number of transactions at ATMs, and not at the PoS machines. To promote digital transactions, RBI has also capped charges on debit card transactions at merchant outlets.
Mobile wallets such as Paytm and Mobikwik can help you during the cash crunch situation. You can use mobile wallets to pay utility bills, recharge dish connections and mobile numbers, buy groceries and book movie tickets. You can also pay your taxi fare using mobile wallets and transfer money to others.
Unified Payment interface (UPI) was launched by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to make instant payments using a smart phone. Under UPI, you don't have to enter your net banking details every time you make a payment. It allows users to send and receive money using a virtual payment address (VPA). You can create VPA by linking your bank account to the bank's mobile application.
The Unstructured Supplementary Service Data popularly called USSD is a mobile based banking service. You can access USSD through both feature phones and smart phones. You don’t require internet to access USSD.
How to use USSD?
You have to dial *99# on your phone which is a common code for all telecom service providers.
You have to dial *99# and choose the service based on your requirement.
The key services under *99# include balance enquiry, mini statement and interbank account to account fund transfer.
The mobile operator charges a nominal fee of Rs 0.5 per transaction. No transfer charges. The maximum fund transfer limit is Rs 5,000 a day with 24 * 7 services.
The important lesson you learn from the cash crunch is to cut expenses and save money. To save more money, you must make a budget, prioritize the expenses and spend wisely. When you have less cash in your hand, you will spend more consciously.
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