Govt sets budget of Rs 3,500 crore to promote BHIM UPI and Rupay Card: Check details

In order to boost digital transactions in the country, the Central Government has decided to incentivise banks and other payment system operators and app providers for promoting RuPay Debit Cards transactions and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (upto Rs 2,000) (Person-to-Merchant- P2M), for financial year 2023-24. The Ministry of Finance has informed that this is in compliance with the Budget announcement for financial year 2023-24 and the admissible incentive will be calculated as per the transaction value processed on quarterly basis.

The move is in line with the various initiatives being taken by the government to promote digital payments and, as a result, over past few years, digital payment transactions have witnessed tremendous growth across the country with the number of transactions growing from 2,071 crore in financial year 2017-18 to 13,462 crore in financial year 2022-23.

Although there has been an unprecedented growth in digital payments over the past few years, there is potential for further growth. Therefore, the government feels it is important to promote the adoption of digital payments, targeting untapped markets or segments or sectors.

The official release has stated that the incentive scheme will promote digital payments by incentivising banks and other payment system operators to build a robust digital payments ecosystem and to promote RuPay Debit Cards and BHIM-UPI as low-cost digital payments mode across all sectors and segments of population. 

In line with various digital initiatives under Atmanirbhar Bharat, the scheme will also promote transactions using indigenously-developed modes of digital payments, namely, BHIM-UPI Lite or BHIM-UPI LiteX, “UPI Conversational Payments- Hello! UPI” and BHIMUPI 123PAY as economical and user-friendly digital payments solutions.

For this, the government has approved the proposal to continue the “Incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (Person to Merchant)”, for a period of one year and at a financial outlay of Rs 3,500 crore. 

This will provide financial incentive to acquiring banks as per the incentive rates and other details given below —

The duration of the scheme is one year from April, 1, 2023 to March, 31, 2024.

As per the government, the financial outlay for the scheme is Rs 3,500 crore, with Rs 500 crore allocated for RuPay Debit Card and Rs 3,000 crore allocated for BHIM-UPI.

Paying with RuPay credit card on UPI with the BHIM app is your key to safe, secure, and smart transactions. ​
So, link your RuPay credit card on BHIM today!#LifeSimplifiedWithBHIM #PayWithEase #RupayOnUPI pic.twitter.com/6VHKzuV8Wr

— BHIM (@NPCI_BHIM) August 2, 2023