Lok Sabha Question No. 1152 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-09
Subject: Promotion of RuPay Debit Cards
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Bhola Singh, Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh, Sukanta Majumdar, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Jayanta Kumar Roy, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Raja Amareshwara Naik

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION NO.1152

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.02.2022

## PROMOTION OF RUPAY DEBIT CARDS

## 1152.   SHRI BHOLA SINGH:       SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJU BHAIYA): DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:    SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO: DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:   SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR: SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has approved an incentive scheme to promote RuPay Debit cards and low-value (uptoRs.2,000) BHIM-UPI transactions (Person-to-Merchant (P2M)) in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the acquiring banks will be incentivised by the Government by way of paying percentage of value of transactions (P2M) done through RuPay Debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI modes of payments;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the  other  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  for  building  robust  digital  payment ecosystem and promoting RuPay Debit card and BHIM-UPI digital transactions, across all sectors and segments of the population and further deepening of digital payments in the country; and
- (f) the other steps being taken by the Government to give further boost to digital transactions in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a) and  (b):  Yes,  Sir.  India  is  leading  the  world  today  in  Fintech  and  Digital  Payment systems.  RuPay  cards  &BHIM-UPI  modes  of  payment  are  integral  part  of  digital  payment ecosystem.  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology,  Government  of  India  has notified an incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions  (P2M)  vide  Gazette  Notification  dated  December  17,  2021,  subsequent  to  the approval by the Union Cabinet in its meeting held on December 15, 2021.

(c)  and  (d):  Yes,  Sir.  The  scheme  provides  for  incentivising  the  acquiring  banks  by  the Government  by  way  of  paying  percentage  of  value  of  RuPay  Debit  cards  and  low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (upto ₹ 2,000) (P2M), for a period of one year, w.e.f. April 01, 2021, at an estimated financial outlay of ₹ 1,300 crore. The details of the Scheme are available in the  Gazette  Notification  No.24(1)/2020-DPD-Part(2)  dated  December  17,  2021  (copy  of Notification is available at https://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2021/231960.pdf).

(e) and (f): The steps that are taken by the Government for building robust digital payment ecosystem and promoting digital transactions, including RuPay Debit card and BHIM-UPI, are placed at Annexure-1 .

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## Annexure-1

Promotion  of  digital  payments  is  an  essential  aspect  of  Digital  India  programme.  Ministry  of Electronics  and  Information  Technology  (MeitY)  has  been  assigned  the  responsibility  of 'Promotion of Digital Transactions including digital payments'. DIGIDHAN Mission was set up at  MeitY  in  June  2017,  which  has  been  primary  catalyst  to  promote  the  digital  payment ecosystem in India. Digital payments have significantly increased in recent years, as a result of coordinated  efforts  of  the  Government  with  all  stakeholders.  The  total  transaction  volume increased from 2,071 crore in FY 2017-18 to 5,554 crore in FY 2020-21. In FY 2021-22, as on 02.02.2022 (as per DIGIDHAN Dashboard), total 6,380 crore digital payment transactions have been achieved.

Under  the  Mission,  following  steps  are  taken  by  the  Government  for  building  robust  digital payment ecosystem and promoting digital transactions, including RuPay Debit card and BHIMUPI:

## (1) Incentive schemes:

In  order  to  catalyse  the  adoption  of  digital  payments,  Government  has  launched  various schemes  for  incentivizing  merchants,  individuals  and  banks.  Some  of  them  were  BHIM Cashback  schemes  for  Individuals  and  Merchants,  BHIM  Aadhaar  Merchant  Incentive Scheme, BHIM-UPI Merchant On-boarding Scheme and MDR Reimbursement Scheme.

Further,  incentive  scheme  for  promotion  of  RuPay  Debit  cards  and  low-value  BHIM-UPI transactions (P2M) has been notified, for a period of one year, w.e.f. April 01, 2021, by the Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology,  Government  of  India  vide  Gazette Notification  dated  December  17,  2021.  This  scheme  provides  for  facilitation  of  acquiring Banks in building robust digital payment ecosystem and promoting RuPay Debit card and BHIM-UPI transactions across all sectors and segments

## (2) Launch of innovative Payment Solutions:

Various innovative payment solutions have been launched to provide easy and convenient digital payment options for the citizens across the country.

-  BHIM-UPI (Unified Payment Interface) is an indigenous digital payment system, which provides the facility of quick and easy payments from multiple bank accounts in a single mobile  application.  BHIM-UPI  has  emerged  as  the  preferred  payment  mode  of  the citizens and has achieved a record of 461.71 crore digital payment transactions with the value of Rs. 8.31 lakh crore in January 2022.
-  Bharat  Bill  Payment  System  (BBPS) : BBPS  is  a  platform that provides an interoperable and easily accessible recurring and bill payment service to consumers via multiple  channels  like  Internet  Banking,  Mobile  Banking,  Mobile  Apps,  UPI,  etc.  At present, billers from 20 recurring payment categories across India are being on-boarded on  BBPS.  As  a  result  of  the  efforts  made  by  Government,  BBPS  has  witnessed significant growth as mentioned below:
- ­ Volume of BBPS transaction has increased from 7.6 lakh in October 2017 to 621.4 lakh in December 2021.
- ­ Value of BBPS transactions have increased from Rs. 67.39 crore in October 2017 to Rs. 10,338.41 crore in December 2021.
- ­ Number  of  billers  on-boarded  on  BBPS  has  increased  significantly  from  57  in October 2017 to 20,374 in December 2021.
-  National  Common  Mobility  Card  (NCMC): Government  has  launched  NCMC  to provide an easy, convenient and fast method of digital payment to the citizens for public transport  and  other  low  value  transactions  including  retail,  parking  etc.  NCMC  will enable a single interoperable digital payment mode in all the Metros and Bus services along  with  retail  to  fulfill  the  vision  of  'One  Nation  One  Card'.  More  than  5.7  crore NCMC card have been issued till November, 2021.
-  National  Electronic  Toll  Collection  (NETC): NETC  Fastagprovides  an  easy  and convenient  digital  payment  mechanism  for  toll  payments.  Growth  of  NETC  is  given below:
- o Volume of NETC transaction has increased from 74.1 lakh in April 2017 to 2,420.7 lakh in December 2021.
- o Value of NETC transactions have increased from Rs. 210.53 Crore in April 2017 to Rs.  3679.42 crore in December 2021.
- o Issuance of FASTag has increased from 4.55 lakh in April 2017 to 442.23 lakh in December 2021.
-  e-RUPI: Honourable  Prime  Minister  has  launched  'e-RUPI'  -  a  person  and  purpose specific, contactless and cashless digital payment solution on August 02, 2021. e-RUPI is a landmark  initiative for 'Direct Benefit Transfer' schemes,  aimed  for  targeted, transparent and leakage free delivery of benefits for public welfare. e-RUPI is a prepaid electronic  voucher  (QR  code  or  SMS  based),  which  can  be  used  by  the  Government Organizations/Corporates/NGOs for delivery of a specific subsidy or welfare benefit to the  targeted  citizens.  The  beneficiaries  can  redeem  e-RUPI  voucher  without  a  card, digital  payments  app  or  internet  banking  access,  at  the  merchants  accepting  e-RUPI, simply by showing SMS or QR code. The first use case of e-RUPI has been rolled out for sponsoring  COVID  vaccination  at  private  vaccination  centres.  e-RUPI  can  be  further extended for various Government welfare schemes.
- (3) Digital  Payments  Dashboard: DIGIDHAN  Dashboard  (https://digipay.gov.in)  has  been developed  to  create  a  platform  for  reporting,  monitoring  and  analysis  of  digital  payments transactions occurring in the country and enablement of infrastructure through deployment of  Physical/Mobile/BHIM Aadhaar PoS devices. It helps in tracking the growth of digital payment transactions in the country and provide inputs for effective planning of promotional activities.
- (4) Awareness  &  Training  initiatives: Awareness  and  training  programmes  have  been conducted in coordination with ecosystem partners for promotion of Digital Payments.
-  Digital Payments Utsav

Government of India is celebrating AzadikaAmritMahotsav (AKAM), to commemorate the  75 th Anniversary  of  Independence  of  India.  As  part  of  this  initiative,  Ministry  of Electronics  and  Information  Technology  (MeitY)  celebrated  'Digital  Payments  Utsav' on  5 th December  2021  and  launched  a  special  three-months  awareness  campaign  for promotion  of  Digital  Payments  in  the  country.  A  digital  payment  promotional  video 'Chutki Baja Ke' has been launched, which highlights the ease of digital payments. The event  witnessed  the  unveiling  of  DIGIDHAN  logo  and  launch  of  some  innovative payment solutions:

- ­ Wearable payment solutions (Rupay on the Go)
- ­ RuPay Credit Cards by multiple Banks
- ­ Launch of Union Bank of India SOFTPOS

Top Banks were awarded and recognized in various categories for achievements in FY 2019-20 and FY 2020-21 towards the promotion of Digital Payments. During the event, MeitY  also  recognized  the  contribution of four  payment  system  aggregators  for onboarding  street  vendors  to  digital  payments  as  a  special  pilot  project  under  the  PM SVANidhi Scheme.

-  Pradhan MantriGramin Digital SakshartaAbhiyan (PMGDISHA)

MeitY has undertaken a scheme titled 'Pradhan MantriGramin Digital SakshartaAbhiyan (PMGDISHA)'  to  usher  in  digital  literacy  in  rural  India  by  covering  6  crore  rural households (one person per household) by 31.03.2022.  PMGDISHA includes content on various digital payments including BHIM UPI, BHIM Aadhaar, *99# (USSD) and AEPS, POS, etc.

- 
- Promotion of Digital Payments on Social Media

Social  media  posts  have  been  published  on  Digital  India  and  MeitY's  social  media platforms, namely Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to encourage citizens to use digital payments on various occasions, including Diwali, Bhai Dooj, Christmas, New Year and Republic Day.

- (5) Initiative to empower street vendors with Digital Payments: Pilot project was initiated to digitally onboard beneficiaries of PM SVANidhi (Prime Minister Street Vendor AtmanirbharNidhi) scheme with BHIM-UPI QR code through digital payment aggregators for increasing the digital transactions.
- (6) Promotion  of  indigenous  payment  solutions  BHIM-UPI  &RuPay  globally: India's indigenously developed BHIM-UPI and RuPay cards are world class platforms for enabling digital payments. Several countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East have displayed an inclination towards establishing a 'real time payment system' or 'domestic card scheme' and

wish to replicate our model in their country. Government has undertaken efforts to promote these products globally.

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