Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said that the government is working on expanding the reach of the Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AEPS).
Speaking at DigiDhan Mela here, Mr. Prasad said the government’s effort was to ensure that every trader and businessman in the country had AEPS as soon as possible by linking it with banks. “Already five banks have joined the system while others are in the process of joining,” he said.
The Minister said that the DigiDhan Mela in Mangaluru was the 30th one being organised across the country. About 15,000 individuals using RuPay, AEPS, UPI and BHIM get ₹. 1,000 cash prize every day. So far, about 5 lakh customers and 99,000 merchants have received over ₹ 60 crore as prize money, he said.
Mr. Prasad said that the schemes launched by the National Democratic Alliance government in the past one-and-a-half years were aimed at making India the world leader by ensuring transparency in administration and honesty. Digital payment was one such tool to ensure honesty as every transaction is recorded.
“Digital payment also helps the government widen the tax base and mop up additional resources for defence, education, infrastructure and such other priority sectors. Opening of Jan Dhan bank accounts and linking them with Aadhaar has saved at least ₹ 36,000 crore of subsidy money which otherwise would have been swallowed by middlemen,” Mr. Prasad said.
The 30th draw of Luck Grahak was held. The Minister also presented laptops to Umar Farooq from Hassan, Ravishankar from Bidar, Kailash from Davanagere, Shivu from Dharwad and Garima from Bengaluru Urban, who as executives of customer service centres in villages motivated people to go for digital payment. Various banks, oil companies and other institutions had opened stalls showcasing their efforts towards digital payment. Union Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ramesh Jigajinagi inaugurated the stalls.
Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP; K. Abhayachandra Jain and B.A. Mohiuddin Bava, MLAs; and Ganesh Karnik, MLC, were present.
