Lok Sabha Question No. 1282 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-09
Subject: Digital Payments Infrastructure
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Vincent H Pala

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1282

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 09.02.2022

## DIGITAL PAYMENTS INFRASTRUCTURE

## 1282.   SHRI VINCENT H. PALA:

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

- (a) the details of the extent of digital payments infrastructure usage in North Eastern  Region (NER), State-wise;
- (b) the details of ATM penetration in NER, State-wise; and
- (c) the  details  of  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  increase  connectivity  and  reduce  server downtime/ failed transactions in the NER?

## ANSWER

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

(a):  Government  of  India  is  making  all  efforts  for  promotion  of  digital  payments  and  enabling  digital payment acceptance infrastructure across the country including North Eastern Region (NER). As a result of coordinated efforts of the Government with all stakeholders, a significant increase in number of digital payment transactions have been achieved from 2,071 crore in FY 2017-18 to 5,554 crore in FY 2020-21. A total of 6,380 crore digital payment transactions have been achieved till 02.02.2022 in FY 2021-22 (as per DigiDhan Dashboard: URL - https://digipay.gov.in/ ).

The  State-wise  details  of  number  of  digital  payment  transactions  in  North  Eastern  Region  (NER)  for payment  modes  Unified  Payments  Interface (BHIM-UPI),    RuPay  on  point  of  sale  (PoS)  devices, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), and *99# (Unstructured Supplementary Services Data( USSD) based digital payment mode), as per information provided by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), is given below:

|   SN | State             | FY2019-20    | FY2020-21    | FY2021-22*   |
|------|-------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
|    1 | Arunachal Pradesh | 70,60,278    | 1,61,36,999  | 2,58,83,862  |
|    2 | Assam             | 10,51,06,727 | 20,28,00,298 | 27,32,36,974 |
|    3 | Manipur           | 1,03,79,267  | 2,48,56,871  | 3,43,17,704  |

*FY 2021-22 data is upto December 2021

|   4. | Meghalaya   | 68,82,421   | 1,62,43,826   | 2,19,80,763   |
|------|-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
|    5 | Mizoram     | 39,81,097   | 1,09,32,068   | 1,89,21,919   |
|    6 | Nagaland    | 70,49,580   | 1,69,72,407   | 2,21,12,436   |
|    7 | Sikkim      | 54,71,379   | 1,09,58,593   | 1,59,56,887   |
|    8 | Tripura     | 1,43,58,668 | 2,66,35,594   | 2,86,66,016   |

- (b):  The  State-wise  details  of  Automated  Teller Machine  (ATM) and micro-ATM penetration in North Eastern  Region,  as  per  information  provided  by  Reserve  Bank  of  India  and  National  Payments Corporation of India (NPCI),  is given below:
- (c):  As per information provided by Department of  Telecommunication, the following schemes are being implemented through Universal Service Obligation Fund(USOF) to increase connectivity in North Eastern Region  to facilitate digital payments :
-  BharatNet project is implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country, including NER.
-  Scheme  for  provision  of  mobile  services  in  uncovered  villages  in  Assam,  Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh (National Highways only) of NER and seamless coverage along National Highway.
-  Scheme for provision of fourth generation (4G) mobile services in uncovered villages of Meghalaya and seamless coverage along National Highway.
-  Scheme for provision of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages of Arunachal Pradesh and 2 Districts (KarbiAnglong& Dima Hasao) of Assam.
-  Hiring  of  10  Gbps  International  Bandwidth  for  Internet  Connectivity  to  Agartala  from Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), Bangladesh via Cox Bazar.
- *******

|   SN | State             |   No of ATMs as on Sep-2021 |   No of micro-ATMs as on Jan-2022 |
|------|-------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|    1 | Arunachal Pradesh |                         261 |                               988 |
|    2 | Assam             |                        4280 |                             18128 |
|    3 | Manipur           |                         389 |                              7487 |
|    4 | Meghalaya         |                         439 |                               363 |
|    5 | Mizoram           |                         176 |                               487 |
|    6 | Nagaland          |                         320 |                               630 |
|    7 | Sikkim            |                         203 |                               571 |
|    8 | Tripura           |                         622 |                             16653 |