Niti Aayog will soon be ranking states and union territories on the basis of digital transactions to increase competition, minister of state (independent charge) for planning Rao Inderjit Singh said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Also read: Govt launches Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana to promote digital payments
A Committee of Chief Ministers was made by Niti Aayog on digital payments and the interim report was sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 24.
"It has been decided by Niti Aayog to rank the states/UTs on the basis of digital transactions. Details of the parameters are being worked out," minister of state (independent charge) for planning Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The government think tank recommended various incentives for consumers and merchants such as cashback on digital transactions, discounts of government payments. They will also look to provide incentives for banking and digital merchants.
Two schemes — Lucky Grahak Yojana for consumers and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana for merchants — were also launched to promote digital payments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched them the same day he launched the BHIM app for digital transactions.
The government has been pushing towards digital payments since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his demonetisation plan in November. The government believes that it would curb corruption and black money, making more income taxable.
Latest data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which has been executing the Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana, shows that Rs.117.4 crore has been disbursed as reward money to over 7.6 lakh consumers and merchants, as on February 7, 2017.
In addition to the daily cash-backs to 15,000 consumers, 90 additional consumers and 3,000 merchants have won Rs1 lakh and Rs50,000 each as weekly prize money for adopting digital mode of payments.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka have emerged as top five states with maximum number of winners. While majority of the winners are in the age group of 21 to 30 years, the diversity in their age group ranges from 15 to 66 years of age.
