Govt to Roll out Phase-2 of Digital Payment Promotion From Jan

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The government is working on launching the second phase of promoting digital payments from January, according to an official source.

“A committee under DAVP (Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity) is working on plans to start promotion of digital payments from January onward,” an official source told PTI.

The source also said:

Information and Broadcasting ministry along with Meity (IT ministry) are involved in firming up this plan.

The logo and jingle are being prepared and the next meeting of the DAVP panel is expected to be held within a week to submit the plans, he said.

The government is also planning to incentivise apps such as BHIM and the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) as part of their strategy, said a Hindustan Times report. The incentives can include cashbacks and reward points for BHIM app users.

Since the demonetisation of high value currency in November last year, the government has been pushing for digital payments to move towards a less-cash economy as well as enhance tax base.

There was sudden spike in the number of digital transactions with participation from private sector firms.

As per RBI data, 933 crore electronic transactions have taken place in the country, amounting to Rs 12.13 lakh crore, between November 2016 and September 2017.

The electronic transaction volume peaked in December 2016 to 95.75 crore. In value terms, it peaked to Rs 1.49 lakh crore in March 2017. As per the official data, there were 87.7 crore electronic transaction in September 2017, involving total amount of over Rs 1.24 lakh crore.

The RBI data shows increasing trend in UPI (unique payment interface) based transactions.

The volume of transactions on UPI increased to over 3 crore, involving Rs 5,290 crore, in September this year, from three lakh volume and Rs 90 crore in November last year.

(With inputs from PTI)

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