Niti Aayog awards unnamed person Rs 1 cr in prize money for cashless transaction of less than Rs 1,000

Two schemes launched by Niti Aayog through the National Payment Corporation of India are drawing to a close. These are daily and weekly draws and they are ending on 14 April, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will felicitate the winners of the grand prizes at a ceremony in Nagpur on the day of Ambedkar Jayanti. Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana are the names of the two schemes, and President Pranab Mukherjee has drawn the winners at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In the consumer category, three lucky winners won prizes of Rs 1 crore, Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh for making electronic payments of less than Rs 1,000. In the merchant category, prizes of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 12 lakh were announced. The names and other details of the winners hasn’t been revealed and they haven’t yet received their prize money.

The President urged the citizens of the country to take the necessary efforts to transform India into a less cash economy. The NPCI has distributed a total of 245 crores under the schemes since their introduction on 25 December. There have been 18 lakh winners.

Mr. A. P. Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI said, “The transaction repository of the 1st draw on 25 December, 2016 which was at 6.39 crore increased to 28.32 crore on 97th draw held at Agra.” He went on to add that “The draw has seen a positive impact from various age groups and occupations in adopting digital payments methods. We have seen a steady increase in the number of transactions made using all payment methods.”

The adoption of cashless transactions has been most enthusiastic in the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka. Professionals, students, businessmen, housewives, and agricultural workers were among the diverse set of winners. The majority of the winners were in the 21 to 30 category, but there were a considerable number of winners in the 60 plus category as well.

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