Lok Sabha Question No. 1314 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-06
Subject: Digital India Programme
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Kaushalendra Kumar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1314

ANSWERED ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2021 / AGRAHAYANA 15, 1943 (SAKA)

## Digital India Programme

## 1314. Shri. Kaushalendra Kumar:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the achievements made under the Digital India Programme so far;
- (b) whether the banks are free to levy arbitrary charges for digital payments in the name of Digital India, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the banks are making profit by levying heavy charges on the hard earned money of the customers;
- (d) if so, whether the Government is taking any concrete steps to put a check on the said practice, if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether the said arbitrariness of the banks is likely to compel the customers to return to the cash transaction system, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## Answer

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (DR BHAGWAT KARAD)

- (a) As apprised by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Digital India Programme has made a significant and positive impact in the lives of common citizen in the country. The brief details of major Digital India initiatives, inter-alia, are at Annexure.

(b) to (e) As apprised by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in terms of extant instructions, with effect from September 7, 1999, Scheduled Commercial Banks have however been given the freedom to fix service charges for various types of services rendered by them. While fixing service charges, banks have, however, been advised to ensure that the charges are reasonable and not out of line with the average cost of providing these services. They have been further advised to identify basic services and the principles to be adopted /followed by them for ensuring reasonableness in fixing such charges and to take steps to ensure that customers are made aware of the service charges upfront and changes in the service charges are implemented only with the prior notice to the customers.

The above instructions are consolidated in paragraph 6 of Master Circular on 'Customer Service in Banks' issued vide DBR. No.Leg.BC.21/09.07.006/2015-16 dated July 1, 2015, which is available on RBI website www.rbi.org.in. Also, RBI vide circular DPSS.CO.PD No. 1633 / 02.14.003 / 2017-18 dated December 06, 2017, banks have, interalia, been advised to ensure that merchants on-boarded by them do not pass on MDR charges to customers while accepting payments through debit cards.

Further, vide Circular 32 of 2019 dated 30.12.2019 of Department of Revenue, any charge, including the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), shall not be applicable on or after 01.01.2020 on payment made through prescribed electronic modes i.e. RuPay Debit card, BHIM-UPI and BHIM-UPI QR Code.

As a result of the initiative taken, the number of digital payments in volume terms have increased over the last three financial years (FY) as illustrated below:

| Financial Year        | Volume (in lakhs)   |
|-----------------------|---------------------|
| 2018-19               | 2,32,602            |
| 2019-20               | 3,40,025            |
| 2020-21               | 4,37,445            |
| 2021-22 (till Oct'21) | 3,68,284            |

Source: RBI

## Annexure as referred to in part (a) of the Lok Sabha Question No. 1314 for answer on 06.12.2021 regarding 'Digital India Programme:

1. Aadhaar: It is the world's largest biometric based digital identity platform in the world which provides cradle to grave digital identity to residents of the country. As on November 30, 2021, 131.56 crore enrolments, 6325 crore Authentication and 1041 crore e-KYC have been facilitated.
2. Unified Payment Interface (UPI): It is the leading digital payment platform in the country. As on Nov 30, 2021, 261 banks are on-boarded at UPI. 421 crore monthly transactions worth Rs 7.7 lakh crore has been transacted in October, 2021.
3. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY): It is the leading financial inclusion programme in the country. As on 26.11.2021, there are 43.94 crore PMJDY account have been opened with a total deposit balance of Rs 1.46 lakh crore.
4. Aarogya Setu: It is contact tracing, syndromic mapping and self-assessment app to check and prevent covid spread. As on November 30, 2021, it has seen 20.77 crore downloads and 64.24 crore samples have been tested.
5. DigiLocker: It is the leading paperless initiatives under Digital India, which is providing online authenticated public documents  to  citizens  of  the  country.  As  on  November  30,  2021,  there  are  8.8  crore  users,  461  crore  issued documents, 1460 issuer organisation and 232 receiver organisations on the platform.
6. Unified Mobile App for New Age Governance (UMANG): It is the leading mobile governance initiative in the country. Its aim is to provide all government services through a single mobile app. As on Nov 30, 2021, UMANG is providing 1317 Government services from 265 Departments. In addition, 20,330 bill payment services are also available on UMANG. UMANG provides services in 13 Indian languages. It has facilitated 208 crore transactions so far.
7. Ayushman Bharat: It  is  the  world's  largest  health  insurance  scheme  targeted towards  the  needy  section of the society. As on November 30, 2021, 16.8 crore Ayushman Cards have been issued and 2.27 crore hospital admissions have been facilitated.
8. DIKSHA: It is the leading digital learning platform in the country. As on November 30, 2021, 406 crore learning sessions across 5,158 courses have been facilitated.
9. Common Services Centres (CSCs): It is the world's largest network e-service delivery centres in rural areas in the world. As on September 30, 2021, there are 4.3 lakh operational CSCs across the country and 3.36 lakh operational CSCs at Gram Panchayat level. There are more than 350+ services being delivered through CSCs.
10. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): Aadhaar enabled DBT has contributed to disbursal of Rs 19.75 lakh crore in the bank accounts of beneficiaries across 309 Government schemes, being delivered across 54 Ministries. The estimated gain is Rs 2.2 lakh crore.

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