The government and the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) have been working on how to reduce cash transactions in the economy. In this regard, they formed acommittee last month, of seven members, chaired by a ministry official, Neeraj Kumar Gupta. This group is looking at how to ensure the acceptance of card payments is increased. This will require more of point- of- sales ( PoS) machines. RBI data at end- March shows 24.5 million credit cards and 661.8 million debit cards in the country, compared to 1.3 million PoS terminals. A committee was also formed last year on the same issue; the new panel is to also see that the former’s suggestions are implemented. These include reducing the interchange fee charged on credit cards and bringing these at par with debit cards. Currently, 1.98 per cent in the case of credit card spending and 0.5- 1 per cent in debit card spending of the total amount is and is split between the bank that issued the card, the lender whose PoS machine is being used