Pradhan Mantri Yojana “Digi-dhan Vyapar Yojana” How to apply, introduction of Yojana and benefits complete guide

Digi-dhan Vyapar Yojana

High value bank notes demonetized – Income Tax Department raids increased – cashless digital transactions promoted – black money and corruption takes a hit! Doesn’t that sound amazing? Doesn’t that sound magical? That’s precisely what is happening right now in India as we are writing this article. But hold on! The most important question, ‘is India ready for switching from cash economy to cashless economy?’ ‘Is India ready to embrace digital transactions?’

These are daunting questions and the correct way to answer them is to ask one question – ‘if you are given proper incentives, will you not try to do something that you never did before?’

This is precisely the same question that NITI Aayog thought of. NITI Aayog, which is the think tank of the Union Government replaced the previously existing and defunct Planning Commission when the current BJP-led government took control of India.

After a bold and unexpected move of demonetizing high value currency notes, the Union Government has been pushing Indian citizens to embrace digital transactions. The primary reason for that push was to fight black money. The question is, ‘exactly how will digital transaction help in fighting black money?’ The answer is way too simple! Digital transactions enable the government to keep track of every single dime that circulates in the economy and hence, hoarding cash or keeping money unaccounted is quite literally impossible. This effectively kills black money and corruption as the issue of improper tax collection is also taken care of.

Now, to help Indians embrace cashless economy and digital transactions, the Government of India has come up with something really unexpected – a LOTTERY!

NITI Aayog announces lottery – incentives for embracing digital transactions

NITI Aayog announced that people who will use digital transactions will become eligible for daily and weekly prizes and of course, there will be mega awards. These monetary awards will be for both merchants and consumers.

These awards that NITI Aayog announced are put under two different schemes. They are:

Lucky Grahak Yojana (LGY).

Digi-dhan Vyapar Yojana (DDV)

As the names suggest, LGY is designed for consumers while the merchants will be covered under the ‘DDV Yojana’. This announcement was made by Amitabh Kant – the CEO of NITI Aayog.

Highlights of the two schemes in tabular format

In case you are wondering exactly what has been announced by NITI Aayog, here are the highlights of the two schemes is clear tabular format:

Features              LGY        DDV

Applicable for    Consumers         Merchants

Transactions worth         INR 50 to INR 3,000          INR 50 to INR 3,000

Focus groups     Poor people and middle class     Small businesses

Implementing body        NPCI or National Payments Corporation of India                NPCI or National Payments Corporation of India

Scheme’s first draw date              December 25, 2016         December 25, 2016

Scheme’s mega draw date          April 14, 2017 – Birthday of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar   April 14, 2017 – Birthday of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Total cost to be incurred               INR 340 Crores

NITI Aayog or National Institute for Transforming India Aayog termed these two schemes as Christmas gift for all Indians.

Highlights of weekly and daily prizes

PLEASE NOTE:DAILY PRIZES ARE AVAILABLE ONLY AND ONLY UNDER THE LGY. THIS MEANS THAT DAILY PRIZES WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR MERCHANTS.

LGY in tabular format

Scheme Features             Daily Prize           Weekly Prize

Number of beneficiaries               15,000 consumers daily 7,000 consumers daily

Prize amount     INR 1,000 cashback every day to 15,000 consumers every day.    INR 1 lakh, INR 10,000, INR 5,000 to 7,000 consumers per week.

First draw date  Christmas (December, 25)           Christmas (December, 25)

Scheme end date            Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanthi – April 14, 2017  Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanthi – April 14, 2017

DHV Yojana

Scheme Features             Weekly Prize

Number of beneficiaries               7,000 merchants

Prize amount     INR 50,000, INR 5,000 and INR 2,500 for 7,000 merchants per week.

First draw date  Christmas (December, 25)

Scheme end date            Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanthi – April 14, 2017

Highlights of mega awards

Both the schemes – are offering a mega draw that will take place on April 14, 2017. The highlights of the mega draw are given below:

LGY Awards

Scheme Features             Weekly Prize

Number of Prizes             3

First prize amount           INR 1 crore

Second prize amount     INR 50 lakhs

Third prize amount          INR 25 lakhs

Draw method    Random selection using transaction IDs

DDV Yojana Awards

Scheme Features             Weekly Prize

Number of Prizes             3

First prize amount           INR 50 lakhs

Second prize amount     INR 25 lakhs

Third prize amount          INR 5 lakhs

Draw method    Random selection using transaction IDs

What types of transactions will be considered for these schemes?

According to NITI Aayog, only transactions made through following modes will be eligible for these schemes:

UPI or Unified Payments Interface.

USSD payments.

AEPS or Aadhar Enabled Payment System.

RuPay Cards.

Transactions that will not be considered for these schemes are:

Transactions made using private credit cards

Transactions made using eWallets of private companies like Paytm, Freecharge, MobiKwik etc.

So, what do you think? Are the incentives good enough? Let us know your thoughts through our comments section.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.