The Niti Aayog today announced two schemes to incentivise digital transactions across the country. (File photo/narendramodi.in)

Now, digital payments can not only save you from the hassles of standing in an ATM queue but also help you win a whopping prize of Rs 1 crore. In a bid to push the cashless economy agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the country, Niti Aayog has announced a number of prizes for people adopting one of the many modes of digital transactions made available by the government.

The Niti Aayog today announced two schemes to incentivise digital transactions across the country. In a PIB release, the NITI Aayog said, “The primary aim of these schemes is to incentivise digital transactions so that electronic payments are adopted by all sections of the society, especially the poor and the middle class.”

The two schemes are a) Lucky Grahak Yojana for consumers and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana for merchants. “It has been designed keeping in mind all sections of the society and their usage patterns,” the release said.

Even the poorest citizen of the country can benefit from the scheme by using USSD. Rural citizens can participate in the scheme through AEPS. Here we present everything you need to know about the two schemes.

1. Important dates: The schemes will become operational from December 25, 2016, and a mega ‘lucky draw’ would be carried out on April 14, 2017 (Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti).

2. Lucky Grahak Yojana for consumers

It will have daily rewards of Rs 1000 for 15,000 lucky consumers for a period of 100 days.

Weekly prizes worth Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5000 for consumers using “alternate modes” of digital payments will also be distributed.

The scheme will include all transactions made through UPI, USSD, AEPS and RuPay Cards.

Private credit cards and digital wallets users are not eligible for the scheme.

3. Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana for merchants

This scheme will award digital transactions by merchant establishments.

It will have weekly prizes worth Rs 50,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs. 2,500.

4. Mega lucky draw on April 14

A mega draw will be held on April 14, 2017

Three people will be eligible for prizes worth Rs 1 crore, Rs 50 lakh and 25 lakh respectively for digital transactions carried out between November 8, 2016, to April 13, 2017. The result will be announced on April 14, 2017

Three merchants will be eligible for prizes worth Rs 50 lakhs, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 12 lakh for digital transactions between November 8, 2016, to April 13, 2017.

5. The incentives will be restricted to transactions within the range of Rs 50 and Rs 3000.

6. All transactions between consumers and merchants; consumers and government agencies and all AEPS transactions will be considered for the incentive scheme.

7. The winners shall be identified through a random draw of the eligible Transaction IDs [which are generated automatically as soon as the transaction is completed].

8. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will develop a special software for selecting the winners.

9. The NPCI will also be responsible for ensuring technical and security audit for maintaining technical integrity of the process.

10. The government will spend Rs 340 crore for rewarding people under the two schemes.

(Inputs from PIB)