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| Mentor for Bank Exams |
Dear Readers,
Welcome to Mentor for Bank Exams. Here I am sharing
the Article on Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana the schemes
launched by NITI Aayog for incentivising digital payments. Kindly make use of
this.
NITI Aayog announces launch of the schemes - Lucky
Grahak Yojana and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana - for incentivising digital payment
The Government had launched a major drive for financial
inclusion in terms of
·
opening Jan Dhan accounts,
·
giving a statutory basis for Aadhar,
·
implementation of Directs Benefits Transfer,
·
introduction of RuPay Cards and
·
Voluntary Disclosure Scheme for unaccounted money.
·
Demonetization of 500 and 1000 Rs. notes was another
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 November 9th.
Yet, as on date, nearly 95 per cent 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 (December 8th) announced a slew of
measures to promote digital payments.
NITI Aayog announces the launch of the schemes Lucky Grahak Yojana and
the Digi-धन 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 25th December,
2016 (as a Christmas gift to the nation) leading up to a Mega Draw on Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti on
14th April 2017. It will comprise of two major components,
one for the Consumers and the other for the Merchants:
a) Lucky Grahak Yojana [Consumers]:
·
Daily reward of Rs 1000 to be given
to 15,000 lucky Consumers for a period of 100 days;
·
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-धन Vyapar Yojana[ Merchants]:
·
Prizes for Merchants for all digital transactions
conducted at Merchant establishments
·
Weekly prizes worth Rs. 50,000, Rs
5,000 and Rs. 2,500
c) Mega Draw on 14th of April – Ambedkar Jayanti
·
3 Mega Prizes for consumers worth Rs
1 cr, 50 lakh, 25 lakh for digital transactions between 8thNovember,
2016 to 13th April, 2017 to be announced on 14th April,
2017
·
3 Mega Prizes for merchants worth Rs
50 lakhs, 25 lakh, 12 lakh for digital transactions
between8th November, 2016 to 13th April, 2017 to be
announced on 14th
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 14th April
2017) is likely to be 340 Crores . 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.
