NITI Aayog announces schemes for incentivising digital payment

Estimated expenditure on the first phase of the scheme is likely to be Rs 340 crore

Government of India has initiated numerous steps to combat the scourge of Corruption and Black Money in the last two and a half years. Demonetization of 500 and 1000 Rs notes was important milestone in this endeavour. Following demonetization, there has been a spurt in the digital payments across the country and both the volume and amount of money transacted through digital methods has seen manifold increase since 09 November 2016.

Yet, as on date, nearly 95% of India's personal consumption expenditure transactions are cash-based giving rise to a very large informal economy limiting the ability of State to levy and raise taxes. The Government of India had recently on 08 December announced a slew of measures to promote digital payments.

NITI Aayog has announced the launch of the schemes Lucky Grahak Yojana and the Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana to give cash awards to consumers and merchants who utilize digital payment instruments for personal consumption expenditures. The scheme specially focuses on bringing the poor, lower middle class and small businesses into the digital payment fold. It has been decided that National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) shall be the implementing agency for this scheme. It would be useful to reiterate that NPCI is a not for profit company which is charged with a responsibility of guiding India towards being a cashless society.

The primary aim of these schemes is to incentivize digital transactions so that electronic payments are adopted by all sections of the society, especially the poor and the middle class. It has been designed keeping in mind all sections of the society and their usage patterns. For instance, the poorest of poor will be eligible for rewards by using USSD. People in village and rural areas can participate in this scheme through AEPS. The scheme will become operational with the first draw on 25 December 2016 (as a Christmas gift to the nation) leading up to a Mega Draw on Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti on 14 April 2017. It will comprise of two major components, one for the Consumers and the other for the Merchants:

a) Lucky Grahak Yojana [Consumers]:

i. Daily reward of Rs 1000 to be given to 15,000 lucky Consumers for a period of 100 days;

ii. Weekly prizes worth Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5000 for Consumers who use the alternate modes of digital Payments

This will include all forms of transactions viz. UPI, USSD, AEPS and RuPay Cards but will for the time being exclude transactions through Private Credit Cards and Digital Wallets.

b) Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana [Merchants]:

i. Prizes for Merchants for all digital transactions conducted at Merchant establishments

ii. Weekly prizes worth Rs 50,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 2,500

c) Mega Draw on 14 of April - Ambedkar Jayanti

i) 3 Mega Prizes for consumers worth Rs 1 crore, 50 lakh, 25 lakh for digital transactions between 8 November 2016 to 13 April 2017 to be announced on 14 April 2017

ii) 3 Mega Prizes for merchants worth Rs 50 lakh, 25 lakh, 12 lakh for digital transactions between 8 November 2016 to 13 April 2017 to be announced on 14 April 2017.

To ensure that the focus of the scheme is on small transactions (entered into by common people), incentives shall be restricted to transactions within the range of Rs 50 and Rs 3000. All transactions between consumers and merchants; consumers and government agencies and all AEPS transactions will be considered for the incentive scheme.

The winners shall be identified through a random draw of the eligible Transaction IDs [which are generated automatically as soon as the transaction is completed] by software to be especially developed by NPCI for this purpose. NPCI has been directed to ensure a technical and security audit of the same to ensure that the technical integrity of the process is maintained.

The estimated expenditure on the first phase of the scheme (up to 14 April 2017) is likely to be Rs 340 crore. The Government will simultaneously carry out a review for further implementation. India is transitioning at a rapid rate from a cash-user society to a cashless society. This is a historic moment in our nation's history when our nation is shedding old habits and rapidly adopting new means which shall propel us into a truly modern age.

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