<div>Pitching for greater cashless banking transactions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this can be the best way to counter the problem of black money, even as he asked banks to look for ways to discourage people from investing huge amounts in gold.</div><div> </div><div>Modi also asked banks to become socially more responsible and provide support to "swachhta" entrepreneurs or those setting up cleanliness and waste management ventures.</div><div> </div><div>He said banks in India should compete for achieving maximum cashless transactions as this would be the "best solution" to the problem of black money.</div><div> </div><div>"Of many solutions to tame black money, cashless transaction is one of the very important solutions. This is a very big opportunity and we should promote this. People should inculcate the habit of cashless transaction," he said.</div><div> </div><div>Black money has been a major political issue in the recent past, including in the Lok Sabha polls last year in which Modi led BJP and its allies to a landslide victory.</div><div> </div><div>Modi also said Indians have a good habit of savings, but these savings have diverted to gold over the time as a measure of security and banks have a challenge to look into ways to discourage huge amounts of money being kept in gold.</div><div> </div><div>The Prime Minister said people in India had a propensity towards saving, but this was targeted towards gold.</div><div> </div><div>"He thinks he should buy gold which can be needed at the times of crisis. I don't think out of 100 people, one person would feel the necessity of selling gold at the time of crisis...but it is a psychology," Modi said.</div><div> </div><div>He was speaking at a function in Mumbai on Friday to dedicate an "ICICI Digital Village" to the nation.</div><div> </div><div>ICICI Bank has adopted Akodara village in Gujarat to develop it into a 'digital village' by providing facilities like cashless banking, e-health, as also digitised schools and mandis.</div><div> </div><div>"The region, including India subcontinent and China, is one of the regions in the world where people have habit of savings. We have the tradition where people save for the next generations to come," Modi said.</div><div> </div><div>"There are parts in the world having credit card culture and people get credit cards in their hands and nothing else. But, here we have a different way of thinking. We have a tradition of saving," he said.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Investing In Gold</strong></div><div>The government has been trying to dissuade people from investing huge amounts in gold and put their savings into more productive financial market assets.</div><div> </div><div>India's gold imports surged to 151.58 tonnes in November, an increase of 38 per cent from 109.55 tonnes a month earlier, widening the country's trade deficit.</div><div> </div><div>India is the world's second largest consumer of gold after China. About 22,000 tonnes of gold is estimated to be held in Indian households.</div><div> </div><div>"This can lead to a very big change in the Indian economy. A very big section of our society keeps more than required gold as a measure of safety for future. Banks have a golden opportunity to become an alternative," he added.</div><div> </div><div>Modi said that rural development is one of the opportunities to improve the country's GDP, while digitisation of villages will help in rural development.</div><div> </div><div>"There are people from a village in Sabarkantha who have joined us. This village is unique because it also has a cattle hostel," he added.</div><div> </div><div>(Agencies)</div>
