Digital payments: Central Bank of India customer wins Rs 1 cr

President congratulated the six winners of Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana

A transaction of Rs 1,590 has bagged a Central Bank of India customer lucky bounty of Rs 1 crore under the government's promotional scheme to popularise digital payments.

President Pranab Mukherjee picked up the lucky winners from the 100th draw of lots under digital payments promotion schemes at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

He congratulated the six winners — three consumers and three merchants — of Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana.

In the consumer section, the first mega prize of Rs 1 crore went to a customer of Central Bank of India, while the second prize of Rs 50 lakh went to a Bank of Baroda customer. A customer of Punjab National Bank is the winner of third prize of Rs 25 lakh.

All the three customers had done transactions using their RuPay debit cards. The names of three winners were not yet known as the draw only displayed their transaction numbers. These will be matched with card details to identify the winners.

Three merchants also won prizes of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 12 lakh, respectively.

The winners will be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14 at Nagpur on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.

Following demonetisation of old Rs 500/1000 notes on November 9 last year, the government took a slew of measures to promote digital payments in the country.

The government launched the Lucky Grahak Yojana for consumers and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana for merchants on December 25, 2016, to promote digital transactions. These schemes are being implemented by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).

In his address, Mukherjee asked citizens to extend their unstinted support to the mission of a less-cash India.

"India has a long way to go to become a cash less society. The initiatives of the government are a good beginning and we need to sustain and nurture these with active participation from all segments of the society.

"It is necessary to reduce cash in circulation and impart greater urgency to promoting secure digital payment methods to ensure greater transparency," the President said.

Presently, India remain primarily a cash-based economy with about 95 per cent of the personal consumption and 86 per cent of all transactions being in cash.

"All efforts of the government will achieve their end only if people were to adopt them proactively," he said, as he complemented the government on its "bold initiatives" for promoting the culture of digital payments.

Stressing that India is on the cusp of a digital revolution, Mukherjee noted more than one billion Indians have a unique identity number with a biometric identifier which is unique in its own way.

"Even countries which are technologically far more advanced than India with comparatively much smaller size population do not have such a system in place. The Aadhaar card initiative is a watershed event in the development story of India," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha said, "I would like reiterate our resolve and commitment to take India towards digital economy.