Digishala to lucky draws: 10 baits used by PM Modi to woo people towards cashless India

From discounts on petrol to lucky draws on cards, govt has been offering tantalising offers to woo citizens to make digital

In a bid to promote a cashless economy, the Narendra Modi government, over the past month has announced a slew of measures. Wrapped in the ill wind of demonetisation, these measures have managed to bring some respite. From discounts on petrol to lucky draws on cards, government has been offering tantalising offers to citizens to shift to epayments.
 

Some of the packages introduced by Modi government to push for cashless India are:

 

1. Lucky draws on cards: Digital payments may give customers a chance to win a weekly and quarterly lucky draw. Around Rs 125 crore a year would be incurred on these prizes, according to a source. All consumers and merchants using digital payments will be eligible for the draws, a release by NITI Aayog said. 

 

 

Digital payments made post-November 8 would qualify for quarterly draws . Draws will be based on transaction IDs  generated  in that particular week, the release  said. All modes  of digital payments — aadhaar-enabled payment system, unified payment interface,  RuPay Cards will be eligible for these schemes.   

 

2. 'DigiShala': The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) launched a TV channel named 'DigiShala'. The channel would be managed by Doordarshan (DD).

 

 On original content, it would run videos produced by various departments, such as the rural development ministry or NITI Aayog, mostly talking about ways of digitising various types of payments, explaining the usage of point-of-sale machines and the benefits of Aadhaar-based payments, among other things. DigiShala is a free-to-air channel, broadcast nationally on the DD free-DTH service. To achieve the objective of educating, enabling and informing citizens about a cashless economy, the government has also initiated a 'Digi Dhan Abhiyan'.

 

"DigiShala will enable and empower every citizen of the country, especially farmers, students, dalits and women in rural areas, to learn the usefulness and benefits of digital payment in our everyday life," Ravi Shankar Prasad, the MeitY minister told reporters here while inaugurating the channel.

 

3. Petrol: discounts: A discounts of 0.75 per cent will be offered on purchase of petrol and diesel through either credit/debit cards, e-wallets and mobile wallets. Some petrol pumps charge two per cent on credit cards, a deterrent for many people. Now, with the government giving a discount, many will be encouraged to use cards. There were about 30,000 petrol pumps using PoS machines in the country, out of the total 52,604 outlets owned by public-sector undertakings such as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) before November 8. But, after the demonetisation announcement, the companies were quick to put cashless transaction system in place and sought about 25,000 additional machines from the banks.

 

4. General and life insurance: 10 per cent and 8 per cent discount will be offered in case of general and life insurance for buying new policy or paying premium online via PSUs websites. 

 

5. Credit/debit card transactions up to Rs 2,000 will be exempt from service tax

 

6. Online booking of railway tickets will get Rs 10-lakh accident insurance. Those using digital mode to pay for railway catering, accommodation, retiring room will be entitled to discount of 5 per cent. Monthly and seasonal suburban railway tickets purchased through digital mode will get 0.5 per cent discount from January 1.

 

7. POS machines: 1 lakh villages with population less than 10,000 will get 2 PoS machines (swipe machines) each, free of cost supported through financial inclusion fund. Estimates by the finance ministry suggest digital transactions will push the need for at least 1 million additional devices from the current 14 lakh that are already installed. Reportedly, of the total 1.4 million PoS devices available, 1.19 million devices are operated by banks.

 

8. Highway toll: 10 per cent discount will be available on use of digital mode for paying for RFID or fast-tags for highway toll

 

9. Central government departments and PSUs to ensure that transactions charges associated with digital payment shall not be passed on to the consumers and all such expenses shall be borne by them. State governments are also being advised to consider doing the same.

 

10. Government will support RRBs and Cooperative Banks through NABARD to issue "Rupay Kisan Cards" to 4.32 crore Kisan Credit Card holders