RBI governor Shaktikanta Das launches Har Payment Digital for making every citizen a user of digital payments
on the occasion of Digital Payments Awareness Week (DPAW) 2023. This is part of RBI’s endeavour to make every person in India a user of digital payments. DPAW 2023 will be observed from March 6 to 12, 2023. The campaign theme is “Digital Payment Apnao, Auron ko bhi Sikhao” (Adopt digital payments and Also teach others).
The Governor congratulated the Department of Payment and Settlement Systems (DPSS) on the occasion of celebrating its 18th anniversary (it was formed on March 7, 2005). ‘Congratulations to team DPSS on this milestone’, he said. It is a matter of pride that payment systems in India have witnessed over 1000 crore transactions every month since December 2022, he said. ‘This speaks volumes of the robustness of our payments ecosystem and acceptance by consumers. A recent pan-India digital payments survey (covering 90,000 respondents) revealed that 42% of respondents have used digital payments, the Governor added.
Digital payments offer benefits of speed, convenience, safety and security. The existing infrastructure has made digital payments available and accessible, but it is necessary to create more awareness which can increase acceptance and enhance adoption. While launching the mission “Har Payment Digital”, the Governor appealed to all the stakeholders – banks, non-banks, payment system operators, digital payment users, etc. – to adopt digital payments and teach others about the merits of using digital payments. This would encourage every person to become a digital payment user.
Launched in 2016, UPI has emerged as the most popular and preferred payment mode in India pioneering Person to Person (P2P) as well as Person to Merchant (P2M) transactions in India accounting for 75% of the total digital payments. The volume of UPI transactions has increased multifold from 0.45 crore in January 2017 to 804 crore in January 2023. The value of UPI transactions has increased from just ₹1,700 crores to ₹12.98 lakh crore during the same period. The Digital Payments Awareness Week (DPAW) will further deepen the usage and footprint of digital payments across the country.
During the DPAW 2023, Regional Offices of the RBI will be conducting awareness and outreach programmes which will also form part of ‘Jan Bhagidari’ events under the Indian G20 presidency. Similar initiatives will be undertaken by the bank and non-bank payment system operators.
The Reserve Bank will also initiate a ‘75 Digital Villages’ programme in observance of 75 years of Independence. Under this programme, Payment System Operators (PSOs) will adopt 75 villages across the country and convert them into digital payment-enabled villages.
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