Ease of use and convenience to access services have also attracted customers to opt for digital services even as the government has been urging for digital adoption.

Covid-induced lockdown across the country for over two months have significantly enhanced power distribution companies’ contribution towards PM Modi’s Digital India initiative. Tata Power Delhi Distribution (TPDDL) along with BSES discoms – BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna have seeing significant jump in digital payments of electricity bills by customers. While TPDDL, which has around 70 lakh consumers in the north and northwest Delhi, received more than 90 per cent bill payments digitally during the lockdown, BSES also got 90 per cent payments through digital mode, spokespersons of two companies told PTI. Before the lockdown period, TPDDL had only 65 per cent consumers paying bill digitally, the spokesperson said.

For BSES, the digital payment increased from around 72 per cent before Covid and the lockdown. As a result, the share of payments via cheques and demand drafts went down from around 22 per cent to around 10 per cent, according to the spokesperson of the company. The fear of virus contraction coupled with cashback offers and discounts offering by multiple services providers have likely triggered the jump in the share of digital bill payments. Moreover, ease of use and convenience to access services have also attracted customers to opt for digital services even as the government has been urging for digital adoption. The government had launched Digital India – the nationwide campaign to drive the digital mode and had launched multiple initiatives such as Digi Locker, BharatNet, e-Aadhaar, MyGov.in etc.

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“We at Tata Power-DDL have been working towards various strategies over the years to revamp the process of bill payments for consumer convenience and contribute towards Digital India,” said Ganesh Srinivasan, CEO, TPDDL. The growth in digital mode of bill payments was visible across domestic, industrial or agricultural segments of customers with a 94.75 per cent, 92.18 per cent and 72 per cent share respectively, the spokesperson said. In terms of the digital payment mode, online wallets had a share of 40-43 per cent while 20-21 per cent payments were made through net banking, he added.