Cash

India’s latest efforts to shift to digital payments and reduce the nation’s tight grip on cash are in the spotlight, following the government’s recent cash recall and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) giving its blessing to about a dozen digital payments startups. The newest, BHIM, is controlled by India’s government and is off to a fast start after its first week.

On the heels of India’s move last month to discourage cash-hoarding by demonetizing certain bills, Prime Minister Narenda Modi on Dec. 30 announced the rollout of a government-managed mobile payments app.

Payments software provider Ezetap says an agreement with Pax Global Technology Ltd. will bring "hundreds of thousands" of mobile and mini point-of-sale terminals to India as the country lessens its use of cash.

In another move that furthers India's movement away from cash, police in Pune plan to initiate a cashless policy by the end of the first week of January.

A new analysis from the Federal Reserve shows checks as one of the few non-cash payment types to decline, while many others are on the rise.

The largest denomination of Venezuela’s crippled currency was pulled from circulation before the new, larger-denomination bills were able to enter it, ATMs and wallets are mostly empty, and Christmas is just a little more than a week away.

Roughly 24 hours ahead of a planned rollout of much awaited -- and much needed -- larger-denomination bolivar bills in Venezuela, banks had yet to receive the new tender on Wednesday, nor was it clear whether the banknotes had even arrived in the country.

Venezuelans were wearily rushing to deposit bank notes or dump their cash savings entirely on Monday following an announcement by President Nicolas Maduro that he was invalidating the country’s biggest bill because of what he says is an attack on the nation’s liquidity.

The U.S. may never face the type of crisis sparked in India through a government decision to recall high-currency bills to curb fraud. But the countries and their financial institutions have something in common — they welcome any technology that introduces digital money in lieu of cash.

Lines are nothing new in Venezuela, where the economy is shattered. Now added to the indignities of daily life in a country desperately short on most everything except crime is the ATM hustle, as banks crack down on what customers can take out.