DigiDhan a cleanliness drive against graft: PM

Pushing for a less-cash economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the government's 'DigiDhan' movement for digital payment is a step towards curbing the menace of corruption.

While paying rich tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar on his 126th birth anniversary at the Deekshabhoomi here, the Prime Minister also launched two new schemes under the BHIM app for referral bonus to individual users and cash-back for merchants to incentivise them.

"This DigiDhan movement is a safai abhiyaan (cleanliness movement). It is to fight the menace of corruption," said Modi addressing a public rally here.

Seeking to rope in youngsters to promote cashless transactions, Modi said for every person you introduce to the BHIM app, you will get a cash back of Rs 10. "If you refer 20 people a day, you can earn Rs 200," he said.

Notably, the PM had recently expressed gratitude to the people saying over the last few months the country had witnessed an atmosphere in which people in large numbers participated in the digital payment, the 'Digidhan' movement.

Commenting on the Aadhaar-based digital payment mobile application, he said, "The BHIM app is positively impacting several lives across the country."

"We are reaching a time when the mobile phones will be where financial transactions will take place," he said.

Developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the Aadhaar-linked Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) mobile app is based on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI).

In December 2016, Modi had launched the BHIM app for facilitating electronic payments by consumers. In March, the government launched Aadhaar Pay, a new Android-based smartphone app.

The BHIM-Aadhaar app will pave the way for making digital payments by using the Aadhaar platform.

It will enable every Indian citizen to pay digitally using their thumb imprint on a merchants' biometric-enabled device, which could be a smartphone having a biometric reader.

"Transactions can be possible (even) with less cash," Modi said.

"There was an era when the thumb was a sign of being illiterate. Now, the thumb (used for Aadhaar-based transactions) has become your strength," Modi said.