'Over Rs 153 crore awarded to 10 lakh people to promote e-payments'

New Delhi: Nearly 10 lakh consumers and merchants have been awarded over Rs 153.5 crore in the last 58 days under Niti Aayog's schemes to promote digital payments, its CEO Amitabh Kant said on Tuesday.

"It has been 58 days since the launch of Niti Aayog's two incentive schemes - Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana to promote digital payments and the public response has been quite encouraging.

"According to the latest figures released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which has been executing the schemes, nearly 10 lakh consumers and merchants have been disbursed over Rs 153.5 crore as reward money till February 20, 2017," Kant said at a press conference here.

The government's think-tank said in a statement that among the 9.8 lakh winners are more than 9.2 lakh consumers and 56,000 merchants.

The winners belong to diverse socio-economic backgrounds, including farmers, merchants, small entrepreneurs, professionals, housewives, students and retired persons.

"Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi have emerged as the top five states/Union Territories with maximum number of winners," the statement added.

While majority of the winners are in the age group of 21 to 30, Niti Aayog pointed out that a significant number are also above 60 years of age.

"The diversity in age of winners is from 15 to 66 years, challenging the notion that the old find it difficult to embrace technology to adopt digital payments," it said.

Government on December 25 had launched two schemes -- Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana -- to boost digital transactions post demonetisation.

The schemes would remain open till April 14.