Six lucky winners were picked up by President Pranab Mukherjee, from a draw of lots under the Government’s Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana schemes, aimed at promoting digital transactions in the country.

The mega draw of lots for the two schemes was held at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Sunday.

An official release said, “In the consumer category, three mega prizes of Rs 1 crore, RS 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, went to the customers, using Rupay Debit Cards, making digital payment of less than Rs 1000.”

The three mega prizes for merchants worth Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh, and Rs 12 lakh respectively, were also declared at the event, on the final day of the 100-day scheme.

A transaction of Rs 1,590, has won a Central Bank of India customer, a lucky draw of Rs 1 crore, under the consumer category, as part of Government’s scheme to popularize digital payments. The President, further, congratulated all the six winners - three merchants and three consumers.

The President said, “I am happy today to be a part of the digital payment movement that India has embarked upon. I congratulate each one of you who has contributed in this mission to make India a less cash society.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will felicitate the winners, on April 14, at Nagpur, on the eve of Ambedkar Jayanthi.

Mr Mukherjee asked citizens to extend their generous support to the mission of a less-cash India.

The President said, “India has a long way to go to become a cash less society. The initiatives of the government are a good beginning and we need to sustain and nurture these with active participation from all segments of the society. It is necessary to reduce cash in circulation and impart greater urgency to promoting secure digital payment methods to ensure greater transparency.”

“All efforts of the government will achieve their end only if people were to adopt them proactively,” he said, as he complemented the government on its “bold initiatives” for promoting the culture of digital payments.

Mukherjee, further noted that, over more than one billion Indians, have a unique identity number, with a biometric identifier, which is unique in its own way.

“Even countries which are technologically far more advanced than India with comparatively much smaller size population do not have such a system in place. The Aadhaar card initiative is a watershed event in the development story of India,” he said.

The second prize, of Rs 50 lakh, in the consumer section, went to a Bank of Baroda customer while the third prize of Rs. 25 lakh was bagged by a customer of Punjab National Bank.

The RuPay debit cards, were used by all the three customers, for their transactions. The winners names were not revealed yet, as the draw only showed their transaction numbers. These numbers inturn will be matched with the card details, to identify the winners.

Following demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, last year, the government took a slew of measures to promote digital payments in the country. The Lucky Grahak and Digi Dhan Vyapar schemes, were launched on December 25, last year, for merchants and consumers respectively.

These schemes are being implemented by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).

Daily, weekly and monthly rewards worth Rs. 256 crore have been given to over 16 lakh citizens, for making and accepting small transactions digitally. And everyday, around 15,000 consumers, have qualified for total prize money of Rs. 1.5 crore, over the past 100 days.

MD and CEO of NPCI, A P Hota, said, “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.”

Speaking on the occasion, Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha said, “I would like reiterate our resolve and commitment to take India towards digital economy.”

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