Lok Sabha Question No. 2874 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-02
Subject: Cashless Transaction
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: JOSE K. MANI, VINOD KUMAR BOIANAPALLI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK  SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2874

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 02.08.2017

## CASHLESS TRANSACTION

## 2874.    SHRI JOSE K. MANI: SHRI B. VINOD KUMAR:

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

- (a) whether  cashless  (electronic)  transactions  are  not  picking  up  as  expected  postdemonetisation  with  e-transactions  dipping  by  more  than  29  per  cent  since  March 2017 and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (b) whether the Government's much hyped BHIM-Aadhaar initiative aimed at encouraging  merchants  to accept digital payments  using  customer's biometric authentication  (Aadhaar)  is  also  not  performing  as  expected  and  if  so,  the  reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  the  cost  of  the  authentication  device  is  deterring  small  merchants  from getting on to the Aadhaar based payments network and if so, the steps taken by the Government in this regard;
- (d) whether  Banks  and  the  National  Payments  Corporation  of  India  have  asked  the Ministry to increase the referral bonus on payments app BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) since it has failed to attract consumers; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto?

## ANSWER

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

- (a):    The  following  is  the  volume  of  Digital  transactions  post-  demonetisation  during  the period November 2016 to March 2017 alongwith the pre-demonetisation period of October 2016.

|   # | Month      |   Total Digital Payment Transactions (In Crores) |
|-----|------------|--------------------------------------------------|
|   1 | Oct 2016   |                                            71.27 |
|   2 | Nov 2016   |                                            83.48 |
|   3 | Dec 2016   |                                           123.46 |
|   4 | Jan 2017   |                                           114.96 |
|   5 | Feb 2017   |                                           101.18 |
|   6 | Mar 2017   |                                           119.07 |
|   7 | April 2017 |                                           118.01 |
|   8 | May 2017   |                                           111.45 |

Source: RBI and NPCI

From the above data it is apparent that the volume of digital transactions increased during November - December 2016 and have   plateaued thereafter.

- (b):    As  BHIM-Aadhaar has been launched on 14 th April  2017,  it  is  a  fairly  new  payment service  and  so  daily  transactions  are  in  the  range  of  300-400.  However,  it  is  gradually showing up-swing as illustrated below:
- (c):   No, Sir. The device cost does not seem to be deterring small traders from getting onto the Aadhaar-based payment system, as the device cost is one time investment, which would ensure long term convenience and transparency in the transactions for the customers and the traders.
- (d) and   (e):     Yes, Sir.  The proposal for increasing referral bonus on payments App BHIM is under examination.

| Period            | Increase in Transactions   | Increase in Unique Aadhaar   |
|-------------------|----------------------------|------------------------------|
| May vs April 2017 | 30%                        | 26%                          |
| June vs May 2017  | 11%                        | 2%                           |

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