Taking a cue from the ‘cashback’ culture of ecommerce and digital startups, Govt. of India has decided to throw in Rs 340 crore worth of incentives for boosting cashless economy. The modus operandi is quite simple: Whoever transacts using cashless mode, stands a chance to win instant cash prizes, drawn via lottery and lucky draws.
This new scheme to boost cashless economy has been planned by NITI Aayog, which is a Govt. think thank on policy issues, and has replaced the traditional Planning Commission, which used to make the 5-year plans for Indian economy.
NPCI would be implementing this scheme, using the transaction ID of all cashless transactions.
While announcing the new scheme, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, “Our objective is to make the digital payment mode a mass movement,”
Earlier, few BJP leaders from Delhi had announced that they will give laddoos (sweets) to people standing in ATM queues, in order to make them feel special and privileged, as they are working towards making India black-money free country.
Lottery, Lucky Draws For Going Cashless!
There are basically two schemes: Lucky Grahak Yojana, aimed for the consumers and Digi Dhan Vyapari Yojana, targeted for the small businesses, merchants and traders.
The logic is that, by providing cash based incentives, those consumers and traders who are still reluctant to go cashless, will now attempt to ditch cash and adapt the new-age digital economy.
Overall, these schemes would run between December 25, 2016 and April 14, 2017, wherein 15,000 winners can get Rs 1000 days for 100 days. Only those transactions which are over Rs 50, but under Rs 5000 would be eligible for the lucky draws and lotteries.
And, only those cashless transactions done using USSD, AEPS, UPI and RuPay Cards would be eligible for the lucky draws. Payments made using e-wallets and credit cards won’t be considered. For the merchants, only those transactions would be considered, which are done using their PoS terminals, at their own location.
Finer Details Of The Lucky Draws
Under Lucky Grahak Yojana, 7000 weekly draws would take place, with Rs 1 lakh prize for each winner, per week.
Under Digi Dhan Vyapari Yojana, the same 7000 weekly draws would take place, but maximum award of Rs 50,000 has been earmarked for the merchants.
On April 14th, that is the last day, a mega draw of Rs 1 crore would take place, especially for the consumers. Second prize of this lucky draw would be Rs 50 lakh and third prize would be Rs 25 lakh.
On that same say, a mega-draw for merchants would also take place, wherein maximum prize money of Rs 50 lakh has been allocated, while Rs 25 lakh is the second prize and Rs 5 lakh is third prize.
As per Amitabh Kant, only 5% of personal expenditure in India are being spent using cashless mode. Using schemes such as lucky draws and lotteries, Govt. is aiming for more participation of citizens in making India a cashless economy.
Can incentives work for encouraging more cashless transactions? Do let us know by commenting right here!
I use UPA transaction done my transaction but I want lucky draw how got my benefit pls answer
I purchased petrol of ?500 expecting 0.75% discount, but instead bank charged ?14.37 extra. Why the govt. announcements are for cheating the public??????????????????????????????????
Most of the banks are issuing only VISA and Mastercards, No prizes will be given on purchase with these cards. Only puchase with RUPAY cards will be awarded. Why banks are not issuing RUPAY cards preferably??????