Rs 1 crore award, weekly prizes for digital payments: Govt

New Delhi: The Modi government on Thursday announced awards for people making payments through digital means, in an effort to promote cashless transactions in the country.

According to reports, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant announced a weekly draw system wherein 15,000 winners would get Rs 1000 each for 100 days starting Christmas.

The two schemes - Lucky Grahak Yojna and Digi Dhan Vyapari Yojna - will go live from December 25 till April 14, said reports. The schemes will cover digital transactions between Rs 50 and Rs 5000.

However, they will not cover Business To Business (B2B) transactions.

Transactions using RuPay, USSD, UPI and AEPS will be covered under the scheme.

But payments through credit cards and e-wallets will not be included.

Kant announced that 7,000 weekly draws would take place, with a maximum prize of Rs 1 lakh each for consumers and Rs 50,000 each for merchants.

On April 14, a mega award of Rs 1 crore will be announced for consumers. The second prize will be of Rs 50 lakh and third of Rs 25 lakh, he said.

Stating that all government departments are now moving towards digital payments, Kant defended Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who had earlier said that the government’s goal was to move to a cashless economy.

The NITI Aayog CEO said that what Jaitley meant was digital transactions are a parallel mechanism, not a substitute for cash transactions.