Rs 1 crore jackpot for digital customer

A transaction of Rs 1,590 has bagged a Central Bank of India customer lucky bounty of Rs 1 crore under the government's promotional scheme to popularise digital payments.

President Pranab Mukherjee picked up the lucky winners from the 100th draw of lots under digital payments promotion schemes at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He congratulated the six winners — three consumers and three merchants — of Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana.

In the consumer section, the first mega prize of Rs 1 crore went to a customer of Central Bank of India, while the second prize of Rs 50 lakh went to a Bank of Baroda customer. A customer of Punjab National Bank is the winner of third prize of Rs 25 lakh.

All the three customers had done transactions using their RuPay debit cards. The names of three winners were not yet known as the draw only displayed their transaction numbers.

These will be matched with card details to identify the winners.

Three merchants also won prizes of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 12 lakh, respectively.

The winners will be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14 at Nagpur on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.

Following demonetisation of old Rs 500/1000 notes on November 9 last year, the government took a slew of measures to promote digital payments in the country.

The government launched the Lucky Grahak Yojana for consumers and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana for merchants on December 25, 2016 to promote digital transactions. These schemes are being implemented by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).

In his address, Mukherjee asked citizens to extend their unstinted support to the mission of a less-cash India.

“India has a long way to go to become a cashless 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 society,” Mukherjee said. — PTI