The economic environment of India has witnessed a significant changes in the past three and a half years. Many policy reforms are introduced by the government to accelerate the growth rate of the economy. Economic growth of the country depends on various factors and it can be measured in several aspects. Macroeconomic variables like GDP, standard of living, per capita income, performance of SSI sector etc reflects the economic growth. However there are barriers to achieve a good economic growth like parallel economy, money laundering etc. These activities bring down the growth rate of any country and series of steps are taken by the government to bring down those illegal activities. Any country can attain development only when it has economic growth and the growth should be an inclusive growth. This research paper brings out the various benefits of economic reforms named financial inclusion and cashless economy introduced by government of India and discusses how these benefits will contribute to long term economic growth and development.

KEYWORDS : Economic growth, parallel economy, financial inclusion and cashless economy