Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday launched mission Har Payment Digital with the objective of making every citizen a user of digital payments as part of Digital Payments Awareness Week (DPAW) 2023 from March 6 to 12.

Digital Payment Apnao, Auron ko Bhi Sikhao (Adopt digital payments and Teach others also) — will be the theme for this awareness week, according to the central bank’s statement released today.

Over the last few years, the usage of digital payments in India has seen exponential growth. Citizens of the country have embraced digital payments for the speed, convenience, and security that it offers, the RBI, in the statement, said, adding, “However, a significant portion of the population is still not aware of digital payments or is not using them despite being aware.”

Considering the benefits that digital payments bring to the country, it is necessary to create more awareness and further increase the usage of digital payments. With this objective, the Reserve Bank said it had been observing a targeted campaign – DPAW every year as part of the continuous efforts towards increasing financial awareness.

A recent RBI survey covering 90,000 respondents revealed that while 42 percent respondents had used digital payments; 35 percent were non-users though aware of digital payments while 23 percent were not aware.

This year, ‘Har Payment Digital’ (HPD) mission would be launched that would run till the period of Vision 2025 and intends to convert these non-users into users of digital payments.

Vision 2025 has its theme — E-Payments for Everyone, Everywhere and Everytime — and it would be apt to have the mission HPD coinciding with it to encourage universal adoption of digital payments by the citizens of the country.

For the purpose, this year’s DPAW theme of — Digital Payment Apnao; Auron ko Bhi Sikhao — intends to create a chain of digital payment users who would teach people around them about the benefits of digital payments, to encourage adoption and propagate this chain to a national scale, according to the statement.

Starting this week, RBI in partnership with banks and other participants of payment systems will carry out a multimodal campaign covering print, television, radio and social media during the week around the theme. Users of digital payments will be encouraged to teach non-users about the ease, safety and convenience of digital payments to fulfil the mission every citizen a digital payments user.

Various activities will also be organized to facilitate the participation of maximum people around the theme.

Some of the activities that will be organised to facilitate the participation of maximum people around the theme are Jan Bhagidari Events, 75 Digital Villages Programme, Partnering with Youth and Awareness Message in Villages.

Jan Bhagidari Events: RBI regional offices will conduct — Jan Bhagidari — or mass scale people involvement programmes, such as walkathon/marathon/quiz or painting competitions at schools or colleges/townhall meetings/plantation drives, to enhance awareness on a large scale about the mission and the theme of the campaign and to encourage adoption of digital payments in the process.

With 75 years of Independence, the launch of 75 Digital Villages programme: Payment system operators will adopt 75 villages across the country to convert them into digital payment enabled villages (both from user literacy and acceptance purpose. These villages would be distinct from those in the districts covered under the digital banking units (DBUs); expanding and deepening of Digital Payments Ecosystem (EDDPE); and the aspirational districts programme.

Partnering with Youth (March 2023): Social media competition on digital payments awareness will be organised for members of the public with focus on the young generation. The regional offices will conduct events in schools/colleges where the youth would be encouraged to become individual brand ambassadors of the campaign by spreading the message — Digital Payment Apanao, Auron Ko Bhi Sikhao.

Digital payment adoption and awareness message in villages: RBI intends to partner with appropriate agencies to reach out to villages across the country to propagate the campaign theme message “Digital Payment Apnao, Auron ko Bhi Sikhao” by sharing videos and teaching villagers about ease, safety, convenience and usage of digital payments.

RBI said the campaign would also be sustained beyond this week to a longer period to leave a strong imprint on the public regarding the benefits of digital payments that are expected to lead to wide-scale adoption of digital payments.