Niti Aayog announces rewards upto Rs 1 cr on digital payments

NEW DELHI: In a bid to incentivise digital payments, the government on Thursday launched two schemes for consumers and merchants, Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant said. “We are launching ‘Lucky Grahak Yojna’ for consumers and ‘Digi Dhan Vyapari Yojna’ to encourage merchants to transition to digital payments,” Kant said.

• Lucky Grahak Yojna would reward consumers through a daily, as well as a weekly, draw on transactions worth Rs 50 to Rs 3,000 with maximum reward up to Rs 1 lakh.
• Digi Dhan Yojna, aimed at merchants, would have a maximum reward of Rs 50,000.

Govt launches launched two schemes for consumers and merchants to promote digital payments. Photo: Niti Aayog

• The scheme would commence from December 25 and would last till April 14.
• On April 14, there would be mega awards worth Rs 1 crore, Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, respectively, for consumers and Rs 50 Lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for merchants.

Govt announces daily, weekly and mega awards for consumers and merchants with budget of Rs 340 crore for promoting digital payments. Photo: Niti Aayog

• 15,000 winners will get Rs 1000 each. A mega award of Rs 1 crore will be announced on April, 14.
• Both schemes will cover small transactions between Rs.50 and Rs.3000 to encourage every section of the society to move to digital payments.
• Rs 7000 weekly awards, maximum award of Rs. 50,000 each for merchants, under Digi Dhan Vyapari Yojna.

Photo: Niti Aayog

• Modes of digital payments - USSD, AEPS, UPI and RuPay Cards - will be eligible under the scheme. For merchants, transactions made on the POS machines installed at their locations would be considered
• Payments made through credit cards and e-wallets won’t be covered.

NITI Aayog had requested National Payments Corporation of India to conceptualise and launch a new scheme to incentivise digital payments. NPCI is a not for profit company which is charged with a responsibility of guiding India towards being a cashless society.