budget 2017, digital india, digidhan, Lucky Grahak Yojana, pm modi, fm arun jaitley
IANS

A Central Bank of India customer has won a lucky draw of Rs 1 crore as part of the Narendra Modi government's promotional schemes to popularise digital payments. A mega draw of lots was held at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Sunday to select the winners of Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana.

President Pranab Mukherjee picked up six lucky winners on the final day of the 100-day scheme. The winners will be felicitated by Prime Minister on April 14 at Nagpur, on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.

In the consumer category, three mega prizes of Rs 1 crore, Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh went to the consumers using Rupay debit cards to make digital payment of less than Rs 1,000.

Three mega prizes for merchants worth Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 12 lakh were also declared at the event.

Consumers Category:

 Prize  Prize Money  Bank
First Prize Rs 1 crore Central Bank Of India
Second Prize Rs 50 lakh Bank Of Baroda
Third Prize Rs 25 lakh Punjab National Bank

Merchant Category:

 Prize  Prize Money  Bank
First Prize Rs 50 lakh ICICI Bank
Second Prize Rs 25 lakh Punjab National Bank
Third Prize Rs 12 lakh Karur Vaisya Bank

The two schemes were launched on December 25, 2016. Under the scheme, daily, weekly and monthly rewards worth Rs 256 crore have been disbursed to over 16 lakh citizens for making and accepting small transactions digitally.

Modelled after a careful study of best practices undertaken internationally to create an economy that is minimally reliant on cash, the schemes have been executed over a period of 100 days.

"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," said AP Hota, MD and CEO, NPCI, which has been responsible for conducting the draws.

An analysis of digital payments' users across India reveals that Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka have emerged as the top five states/ UTs with maximum number of winners.

An analysis of the winners' profiles also reveals that they are spread across a range of occupational categories including salaried employees, housewives, farmers and daily wage labourers. While majority of the winners were in the age group of 21 to 30 years, there are also a significant number of winners who are above 60 years of age.