Lok Sabha Question No. 3578 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-08
Subject: Promotion of Digital Transaction
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: MAUSAM NOOR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3578

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 08.08.2018

## PROMOTION OF DIGITAL TRANSACTION

## 3578.    SHRIMATI MAUSAM NOOR:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:-

- (a) the  various  schemes  and  programmes  aimed  at  improving  digital  transaction  in  the  country  including awareness programmes for the rural populace and the trader community engaged in cash based transaction;
- (b) the details of the total number of digital transaction recorded in the country for the fiscal year 2016-17;
- (c) whether  there  has  been  an  increase  in  the  usage  of  digital  transactions  in  the  succeeding  quarter  after demonetization and a reduction in the usage after adequate supply of currency notes were restored; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI S.S. AHLUWALIA)

(a): Government of India has been working with various stakeholders including Ministries, Departments, States, Smart  Cities,  Banks  and  Payment  Service  Providers  to  promote  digital  payment  transactions.  The  following measures have been taken by the Government to promote the digital transactions.

## i. Incentive Schemes

-  MeitY  vide  gazette  notification  No  6(19)/2017-DPD-1  dated  27th  December  2017  has  notified  the reimbursement of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges on Debit cards/BHIM-UPI/BHIM Aadhaar Pay transactions of value less than Rs 2000 to the Banks for a period of two years starting from 1st Jan 2018.
-  The reimbursement of MDR is aimed to improve the adoption of digital payments by merchants.
-  'BHIM Cashback Scheme for Individuals' has been launched to popularize payments through BHIM APP. The scheme has been modified and is operational till March 2019.
-  The customer on BHIM app can earn an incentive up-to Rs 150 for 10 unique transactions over the BHIM app.
-  The BHIM Aadhaar merchant incentive scheme has been re-launched and the incentive has been increased from 0.25% to 0.5%. The scheme is operational 1st April 2018 till March 2019. In this scheme merchant can earn an incentive up-to Rs 2000 per month.
-  To give stimulus to the deployment of BHIM Aadhaar PoS devices, Government through Department of Financial Services has launched a scheme to provide an incentive of up-to Rs 1800 to the Banks on the procurement of each BHIM Aadhaar PoS.

## ii. Coordination with Banks

-  Digital  payment  transaction  targets  have  been  allocated  to  the  Public  and  Private  Sector  Banks  for  FY 2018-19. MeitY has set targets of 3013 Crore digital payment transactions.
-  The performance of the Banks is also monitored and evaluated by MeitY though a performance scorecard and a Bank ranking system.

## iii. Advisories to Ministries/Departments

-  Government of India has issued advisories to Central Ministries/Departments and States/UTs to improve payments  acceptance  infrastructure,  enable  the  citizens  to  pay  by  a  variety  of  modes  such  as  Internet banking, mobile banking, and mobile applications etc. including use of BHIM, integrate on-line payment portals  with  BHIM/UPI/QR-code/Rupay  Card,  printing  of  QR  code  on  bills,  incentivisation  of  digital payments and publicity and creation of awareness about digital payments among citizens.
- iv. Publicity Campaign
-  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology  have  conducted  publicity  campaigns  over  the following media:
1.     Radio (Wireless Media)
2.     Newspaper (Print Media)
3.     Website (Digital Media)
-  For promotion of Digital payments, MeitY along with Data Security Council of India (DSCI) has prepared videos  in  5  languages  that  makes  users  aware  about  digital  payments  security  issues.  These  videos  are available at http://www.meity.gov.in/awareness-programs-video.
-  Government  of  India  is  also  implementing  a  scheme  called  'Pradhan  Mantri  Gramin  Digital  Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)' to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 crore rural households (one person per household) by 31.03.2019. Special focus of the said Scheme is on training the beneficiaries on use of  Electronic  Payment  System.  The  outcome  measurement  criteria  would  include  undertaking  at  least  5 electronic payments transactions by each beneficiary using UPI (including BHIM app), USSD, PoS, AEPS, Cards, Internet Banking. As on 6 th July,  2018,  a  total  of  1.27  crore  candidates  have  been  enrolled,  out  of which training has been imparted to 1.25 crore candidates, out of this more than 65 Lakh candidates have been certified.

## v. Monitoring

-  In  order  to  create  a  platform  for  accurate  reporting,  monitoring  and  analysis  of  all  digital  payment transactions being carried out across the country, GOI has developed a National Digital Payment Dashboard, which was launched by Hon'ble Minister of Electronics and IT on 13th February, 2018. The same could be accessed at http://www.digipay.gov.in.
-  MeitY has integrated Digital Payment Grievances along with National Consumer Helpline (NCH) platform of Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) in addition to the existing Grievance Redressal Mechanism of digital  payments  of  the  respective  banks  and  NPCI.  The  Platform is  live  and is  handling  Digital  Payment related grievances of 45 Banks.
- (b) :     Month wise digital transactions for the year 2016-17 is as under:
- (c)   and  (d): No, Sir. With increased Digital payments acceptance infrastructure including POS, QR code and others modes, digital transactions are increasing since demonetisation. Month wise details of Digital payments since Nov, 2016 is as mentioned below:

| Month / Year   |   Volume (Cr) |
|----------------|---------------|
| April, 17      |        159.74 |
| May'17         |        156.77 |
| June'17        |        152.9  |
| July'17        |        156.58 |
| Aug'17         |        158.16 |
| Sep'17         |        158.35 |
| Oct'17         |        168.79 |
| Nov'17         |        174.32 |
| Dec'17         |        193.65 |
| Jan'18         |        198.7  |
| Feb'18         |        190.82 |
| Mar'18         |        202.18 |

| Month / Year   |   Volume (Cr) |
|----------------|---------------|
| Nov'16         |         91.83 |
| Dec'16         |        132.93 |
| Jan'17         |        125.6  |
| Feb'17         |        111.37 |
| Mar'17         |        130.64 |
| April, 17      |        159.74 |
| May'17         |        156.77 |
| June'17        |        152.9  |
| July'17        |        156.58 |

| Aug'17         |   158.16 |
|----------------|----------|
| Sep'17         |   158.35 |
| Oct'17         |   168.79 |
| Nov'17         |   174.32 |
| Dec'17         |   193.65 |
| Jan'18         |   198.7  |
| Feb'18         |   190.82 |
| Mar'18         |   202.18 |
| Apr'18         |   207.32 |
| May'18         |   213.3  |
| Jun'18*        |   124.64 |
| JuL'18 (25th)* |    99.53 |

* Note - Data for June'18 and July'18 is yet to be published by RBI.