New Delhi, (IANS) Renewing calls for India to move towards a “cashless society”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said this was essential to curb black money in the country.

Exhorting citizens to begin using the “electronic technological” payments systems put in place, Modi in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ address over All India Radio said: “I urge fellow citizens to begin using the electronic modes of cashless transaction and illegal businesses will close down, black money will disappear.”

“Through electronic-technological means we can now both pay and receive money. The world is moving towards a cashless society,” he said.

The prime minister also said the move towards such a society was being enabled by the government’s JAM initiative — Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhar and Mobile — to implement direct transfer of benefits.

“Through the JAM trinity, we can move towards a cashless society,” Modi said.

“RuPAY cards have been given with Jan Dhan accounts and in the coming days these will have credit and debit card facilities, to disincentivise cash transactions,” he added.

RuPAY cards were launched by the National Payments Corporation of India to address the needs of Indian consumers, merchants and banks.

The benefits of RuPay debit card are flexibility of the product platform and high levels of acceptance.