Ever since I've joined Steemit, the anarchist in me is growing! Government of India is busy trying to encourage a cashless economy at the expense of the unbanked and those who have poor access to banking in general. Today I woke up to the news of our Indian banks coming to a consensus of implementing new set of charges for services that were earlier rendered free of cost.
This move is unbelievably absurd as the banks will now charge 18% GST on basic services such as withdrawals, deposits, net banking, KYC, change of address etc. This move solidifies my opinion that traditional banking and the government are a bunch of thugs in power trying to profit at our expense.
There's a reason for my strong opinion-which would be considered quite unpopular in my country owing to the majority that blindly follow the government. A large portion of Indian economy is rural economy with a major portion of the economy consisting of people in the lower-to-middle income category.
Can you imagine students withdrawing INR 100 ($1.57) and paying 10% of it as fees to the bank! It suddenly feels like the incredible Bitcoin and it's ever increasing exorbitant fees!
Oh! The Irony...
The great government of India on one hand paints a rosy picture of a digital India where people have greater access to online banking and on the other allows the private and nationalised banks of the country to rip-off hard working citizens who are already burdened by ever increasing direct and in-direct taxes as well as rising inflation and lower interest rates on fixed deposits-which the government is directly responsible for!
It saddens me that my country isn't rising up against such atrocities. The irony is in the fact that our government wants to warn us against use of cryptocurrencies with some stating they are not real money. The govt and these banks want to show us a number in our online banking accounts and fewer pieces of paper in our wallet. How do they expect the economy to function or support them in their endeavours when they seem to forgetting how this affects the larger population.
The move is aimed at encouraging paperless transactions but they want to charge us for everything. Imagine the plight of millions of Indians who are facing difficulties due to these constant, almost-lunatic changes in policy. Wait, they did it earlier with demonetisation and didn't give a damn about the population in general. So this isn't shocking after all!
I understand that the banks have costs to cover and they are in the business of making a profit as anyone else. It would've been great if the masses had a choice between a traditional bank and something more radical such as a cryptocurrency based solution that was cheap to use. Then these banks would have no other recourse than to get competitive and offer lower fees and improve services.
Cryptocurrencies couldn't have been invented any sooner and I can't wait to see some major disruptions in the banking sector from a crypto and blockchain revolution. I hope the next few years will bring a mass adoption and revolution that we need, beyond the pumps and dumps that we've witnessed so far!
If you like my work kindly resteem it to your friends. You may also continue reading my recent posts which might interest you:
- Let's Talk—My Tryst With Bitcoin in 2009 and What Happened Next!
- 4 Tips For Steemit Account Recovery & Wallet Security!
- Steemit.Chat Contest #11 + Contest #10 Winners Announcement!
Follow Me: 