India Government, in a bid to boost digital payments, has launched two incentive schemes for both consumers and merchants.
Lucky Grahak Yojana will reward consumers through a daily as well as a weekly draw on transactions worth Rs 50 to Rs 3,000, with a maximum reward up to Rs 1 lakh.
Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana will have a maximum reward of Rs 50,000 for merchants.
The schemes will commence from December 25 and will conclude on April 14 next year with mega awards.
Following demonetisation, 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 9.
Lucky Grahak Yojana will have a daily reward of Rs 1,000 to 15,000 lucky consumers for 100 days. Besides, there will be weekly prizes worth Rs one lakh, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 for consumers who use digital mode of payments.
The government said consumers using UPI, USSD, AEPS and RuPay cards would be included in the draw and consumers paying through private credit cards and digital wallets would not be included for the time being.
The Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana would have prizes for merchants for all digital transactions conducted at merchant establishments. There would be weekly prizes worth Rs 50,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 2,500.
Besides, there would be a mega lucky draw on April 14, 2017 where the consumers would win three mega prizes worth Rs 1 crore, Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh for digital transactions between November 8, 2016 and April 13, 2017.
There would be three mega prizes for merchants too worth Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for digital transactions between the same period.
All transactions between consumers and merchants; consumers and government agencies and all Aadhar Enabled Payments (AEPS) transactions will be considered for the incentive scheme. Business to Business (BtoB) transactions are also included. The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) is the implementing agency for the 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. A person can win a prize for a maximum of three times.
Digital transactions would be safe as there would be two-factor authentication for each transaction.
The estimated expenditure on the first phase of the scheme up to April 14, 2017 is likely to be Rs 340 crore.
