Arthakranti briefed Modi on revolutionary idea, says member

Nagpur: Nearly a decade ago, Pune-based organization

Arthakranti

, which has roots in Pune and Nagpur, was briefing PM Narendra Modi, then the chief minister of Gujarat, on a new economic model. “We had suggested to him that high denomination currency like notes should be withdrawn along with the introduction of other tax reforms,” a member told TOI.

Arthakranti’s campaign peaked around the 2014 general elections. It had the support of the BJP which eventually came to power.

Arthakranti is run by a group of 17 trustees, including Atul Deshmukh, a chartered accountant residing in Nagpur. He toured the country extensively giving details of the Arthakranti model during the elections.

Deshmukh said Arthkranti had worked shoulder to shoulder with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in implementing the idea announced on Tuesday. “Direct meetings with the PMO lasted throughout 2015, the final session being in November last. After that the government continued to take inputs from us on a regular basis. The last time when a query came to us was a month ago. We had prepared an extensive data on black

money

and the disadvantages of cash economy,” Deshmukh told TOI.

According to the organization, the legitimate economy stands at 18 lakh crore. But the black money is a whopping 84 lakh crore.

The members of Arthakranti came up with the idea in 1996. In 2003, it got registered as a trust. “Our plan was made public in 2007,” says Deshmukh.

Arthakranti’s proposal includes doing away with taxes and promoting plastic money. “The proposal is to replace all the taxes except customs duty and have banking transaction tax (BTT) of 2% instead. Since cash is to be replaced with plastic money, all the transactions would be routed through banks. With a small tax on bank deals the government can end up getting a huge revenue,” said Deshmukh.

It also called for having notes up to 50 for day-to-day dealings. “Finally one of our suggestions has been accepted. We hope the entire idea is implemented eventually,” said Deshmukh.

Arthakranti says that it has no political links and had met leaders of all parties including Sonia Gandhi of the Congress. “There was great support from Nitin Gadkari, Subramaniam Swamy and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu,” said Deshmukh.

“We had placed our idea before the UPA leaders when the Congress was in power too,” he added.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which is led by city-based chartered accountant BC Bhartia, too claimed to have strongly lobbied for a cashless economy with the government. “Recently a meeting was held with the minister of commerce Nirmala Sitharaman for having a digital system of payment. We also had discussions with Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant and also the finance ministry,” said Bhartia.

ARTHAKRANTI’S PROPOSALS

* Scrap all 56 taxes including income tax but not customs

* Recall and scrap high denomination currencies

* All high value transaction to be made only through banking system like cheque, DD, online and electronic

* Fix limit of cash transaction and no taxing on cash transaction

* Revenue collection by single point tax system through banking system

* Have a Banking Transaction Tax ranging from 0.7 to 2%


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