India’s first Digi Dhan Mela held in Gurugram to promote cashless transactions

India’s first Digi Dhan Mela was held on 26 December 2016 in Gurugram, Haryana. The mela is a first of its exercise in the country and is meant to promote cashless transactions in the post-demonetisation period.

Highlights of Digi Dhan Mela

• The mela (fair) showcased the government’s efforts to promote digital financial transactions.

• It educated the people on how to use mobile phones and AADHAR for making payments online.

• Dedicated counters were set up to issue AADHAR cards.

• In the mela, 15000 winners of the Lucky Grahak Yojana daily reward were also drawn.

• The winners were being identified through a random draw of the eligible Transaction IDs which are generated automatically as soon as the transaction is completed by software developed by National Payments Corporation of India.

Details related to Lucky Grahak Yojana

• The scheme was launched by the Union Government on 15 December 2016.

• Under this scheme, the government will offer a daily reward of Rs 1000 that will be given to 15000 lucky consumers for a period of 100 days.

• Consumers, who use the alternate modes of digital payments, will be awarded the weekly prizes of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10000 and Rs 5000.

• This will include all forms of transactions- UPI, USSD, AEPS and RuPay Cards but will exclude transactions through Private Credit Cards and Digital Wallets.

Along with Lucky Grahak Yojana, Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana (Merchants) was also launched by the government to promote cashless transactions at retail counters.

Under this scheme, the government will award prizes to merchants for all digital transactions conducted at merchant establishments. They will be awarded the weekly prizes of Rs 50000, Rs 5000 and Rs 2500

Both the Lucky Grahak Yojana as well as the Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana (Merchants) are implemented by the National Payments Corporation of India to attain the broader objectives set forth by the Digital India campaign.