Lok Sabha Question No. 3234 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-22
Subject: Digi-Dhan Abhiyan
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: PARAYAMPARANBIL KUTTAPPAN BIJU

## 3234.     SHRI P.K. BIJU:

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

- (a) whether Government has introduced Digi-Dhan Abhiyan  programme recently with a view to increasing the digital literacy among the public, if so, the details thereof; and
- (b) whether  the  programme  has  received  the  expected  momentum  and  if  so,  the  details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

- (a)  and  (b):  Government  of  India  has  taken  up  several  initiatives  under  Digi  Dhan  Abhiyan which include the following:
- i. Digital  Finance  for  Rural  India:  Creating  Awareness  and  Access  through  Common Services Centre (CSCs): Government approved a sub component named 'Digital Finance for Rural India: Creating Awareness and Access through CSCs' under the Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA) in November 2016 for conducting awareness sessions on digital finance options  available  for  rural  citizens,  small  shopkeepers/traders/hawkers  etc    as  well  as enabling various mechanisms of digital financial services such as Unstructured Supplementary  Service  Data(USSD),  Unified  Payment  Interface  (UPI),  Cards/Point  of Sales(PoS), Aadhaar Enabled Payment System(AEPS) and eWallet etc. So far, more than 2.01  crore  beneficiaries  and  10.77  lakh  Merchants  have  been  trained/enabled  under  this programme. Further, sensitization drives have been carried out at 650 Districts and   5,735 Blocks throughout the country.
- ii. A 24-hour TV channel named 'DigiShala' and a website called www.cashlessindia.gov.in dedicated for facilitating awareness to citizens on cashless payment options and their use, have been launched on 9 th December, 2016.

## iii. DigiDhan Melas:

-  The DigiDhan Mela brings together various stakeholders of digital payment systems such as banks, e-wallet operators, telecom providers and institutions like Unique Identification Authority  of  India  (UIDAI),  Common  Services  Centres(CSCs)  and  National  Payments Corporation  of  India  (NPCI)  to  promote  digital  payments.  The  objective  is  to  enable

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3234

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 22.03.2017

## DIGI-DHAN ABHIYAN

- citizens and merchants to undertake real time digital transactions through the DigiDhan Bazaar and encourage them to use digital platforms for day to day transactions.
-  A  Two  day  awareness  camp  'DigiDhan  Mela'  was  organised  on  17 th -18 th December, 2016  at  Major  Dhyanchand  National  Stadium,  Delhi,  to  mark  the  start  of  the  urban campaign to promote digital payments. It primarily aimed at targeting the urban populace, supplementing  the  Rural  Digital  Financial  Literacy  Campaign  led  through  Common Services Centres.
-  Lucky Grahak Yojana/ Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana: The Government has launched the Lucky  Grahak  Yojana  for  consumers  and  Digi-Dhan  Vyapar  Yojana  for  merchants  on 25 th December, 2016 at the DigiDhan Mela organized at Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi. These schemes  provide  daily  and  weekly  awards  to  citizens  and  merchants  for  undertaking digital  transactions  made  through  Rupay  cards,  AEPS,  UPI  Apps  and  USSD.  The objective  is  to  incentivise  citizens  and  merchants  to  adopt  digital  payment  platforms. NPCI  is  the  designated  implementing  agency  for  the  schemes.  So  far,      11.33  Lakh consumers and 70,000 merchants have been declared as winners under these schemes.
-  The DigiDhan Melas are being organised in 100 cities till 14 th April, 2017, which will be concluded with a mega draw. The overall coordination of the event is being done by the State  Advisors  of  NITI  Aayog  and  NPCI  in  collaboration  with  MeitY.  MeitY  has launched  a  website  www.digidhan.mygov.in  which  provides  the  latest  updates  on demonetisation  and  the  consumer  and  merchants  can  check  the  rewards  under  the LuckyGrahak and Digidhan Vypar Yojana. 75 DigiDhan Melas have been conducted in various cities of the country as on 16 th March 2017.
- (iv) BHIM - Bharat Interface for Money: Government has launched a new digital payment App  named  'BHIM-Bharat  Interface  for  Money'  at  the  DigiDhan  Mela  on                          30 th December, 2016 at the Talkatora Stadium, Delhi. BHIM App has been developed by NPCI. This is  a  unified  App  for  UPI  through  which  the  users  can  make  simple,  easy  and  quick  payment transactions using Unified Payments Interface (UPI). User can easily make direct bank to bank payments instantly and collect money using Mobile number; Aadhaar Numbar; Payment address (VPA-Virtual Private Address). BHIM  could also be accessed through *99# for feature phones users. So far, total transaction count in BHIM App is 49,80,058 and amount transacted through BHIM is Rs 1406.89 Crore.
- (v) Digital  Payments  Security  Division  in  MeitY: A  separate  Digital  Payments  Security Division has been set up in MeitY for handling cyber security incidents in digital payments. 21 advisories have been published by CERT-In since 27 th November, 2016 for security safeguards covering POS, Micro ATMs, Electronic Wallets, online banking, smart phones, unified payment interface, wireless access points / routers, mobile banking and cloud. Cyber Crisis Management Workshop and exercises have been carried out for banks, NPCI and Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT). A workshop on 'Digital Payments Security in India' was  conducted  on  26 th December,  2016  for  Pre  Payment  Instruments  (PPIs),  Banks,  Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) along with the participation of banking technology providers and consultants.
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