Win up to Rs 1 crore: Centre dangles cash prize to promote digital transactions

To incentivise transactions through the digital mode, the NITI Aayog on Thursday announced two new schemes to award consumers and merchants who use digital payment instruments for personal consumption expenditures.

The schemes, to be called the Lucky Grahak Yojana and the Digi-dhan Vyapari Yojana, will be operated through the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and will be limited to transactions done through RuPay cards, USSD, UPI and Aadhar-enabled payments systems, and won’t be open for debit and credit card holders and payments made through private e-wallets like Paytm etc. 

“Only those transactions which are less than Rs 3,000 and more than Rs 50 and do not include payments made between two persons and also B2B would be eligible for the award,” NITI Aayog chief executive officer Amitabh Kant told reporters.

Under the Lucky Grahak Yojana, 15,000 winners will be eligible daily for a prize worth Rs 1,000 each for the next 100 days, starting December 25. 

A weekly award for around 7,000 consumers eligible for a maximum prize of Rs 1 lakh was also announced. 

The scheme would open from December 25 and will be applicable till April 14. Under the Digi-Dhan Vyaapari Yojna, every week, more than 7,000 merchants will be eligible for Rs 50,000 prize. Mega awards, in both the categories, will be declared on the occasion of birth anniversary of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. 

Under this mega award, consumers can win prize worth Rs 1 crore, Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, while merchants can win prize worth Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh, and Rs 5 lakh.

“Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapari Yojana are Christmas gifts for the nation,” said Amitab Kant.  Estimated cost for this scheme is expected to be Rs 340 crore. “Our focus is on poor, middle class and merchants, whom we want to start using digital payments”, Kant added.