Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today expressed the hope that introduction of e-payment system by the government will help in increasing transparency and in reducing corruption.
He was inaugurating the electronic payment system at a fuction in New Delhi.
He said that Under e-payment system, all payments by the government will be made electronically from now onwards which will help in avoiding transactions through cheques. Mr.Mukherjee said that that the system covering all central government departments and ministries is expected to eliminate almost two crore cheques.The Minister said that when the sysytem becomes fully operational in civil ministries it is expected to cover a total payment of over 6 lakh crore rupees. Our correspondent reports ,E-Payment System is a portal which enables the successful delivery of payment services from Pay & Account Offices for online payment into beneficiaries accounts.
Responding to questions on the side lines of the function Pranab Mukherjee said inflation will start easing by December as the government's efforts to remove supply-side bottlenecks have started yielding results. He said current inflationary pressures are mainly because of supply-side constraints of agricultural products. Food inflation shot up to 11.43 per cent during the week ended October 15 on the back of costlier vegetables and fruits.
On the RBI's decision to raise key policy rates for the 13th time since March, 2010, to tame price rise, Mukherjee said,that there was some liquidity excess which was required to be mopped up through adjustment of interest rates. In order to check inflation, the RBI raised the short-term lending and borrowing rates by 25 basis on Tuesday last. He added following the global financial crisis in 2008, several governments across the globe have provided a stimulus to give a boost to their economies, resulting in excess liquidity in the system. Answering questions on the euro zone crisis, Mukherjee said the G-20 leaders will be meeting at Cannes later in the week to work out a solution to the euro zone's sovereign debt problems.
