PremiumThe Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a ₹2,600-crore incentive scheme to promote Rupay debit card and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (person-to-merchant) in FY23. A decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While briefing the media, Union Minister Bhupender Yadav today said that these incentives will be given on the use of Rupay debit cards and BHIM UPI.
Under the scheme, banks would be provided financial incentives for promoting Point of Sale (PoS) and e-commerce transactions using RuPay and UPI in the current financial year.
In her Budget speech last year, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the government’s intent to continue the financial support for digital payments announced in the previous Budget, with a focus on promoting use of payment platforms that are economical and user-friendly.
It would help in building a robust digital payment ecosystem. The scheme would also promote UPI Lite and UPI123PAY as economical and user-friendly digital payments.
UPI has achieved a record of 782.9 crore digital payment transactions with a value of ₹12.82 lakh crore in the month of December 2022.
The Cabinet has also approved a plan to set up three new cooperatives to promote exports, organic products and seeds.
Yadav said, "Cooperatives that are associated with farmers, farmers' income and agriculture production are an important part of rural India. The Cabinet today took three main decisions in the field of cooperatives".
The Cabinet approved the establishment of the National Export Society, National Cooperative Society for Organic Products and National Level Multi-state Seed Cooperative Society, he noted.
These cooperative societies will help realise the vision of "Sahakar Se Samriddhi" (prosperity through cooperatives), and boost rural growth and farmers' income, he further said.