As appraised by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Digital India Programme has made a significant and positive impact on the lives of the common citizens in the country. This was stated by Union Minister of State for Finance Dr. Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
As a result of the initiative taken, the Minister stated, the number of digital payments in volume terms have increased over the last 3 financial years (FY) as illustrated below:
| Financial Year | Volume (in lakhs) |
| 2018-19 | 2,32,602 |
| 2019-20 | 3,40,025 |
| 2020-21 | 4,37,445 |
| 2021-22 (till Oct’21) | 3,68,284 |
As per RBI data, 2,326.02 crore digital payments were recorded in FY19, which increased to 3,400.25 crores in FY20. By FY21, the volume of digital transactions had increased to 4,374.45 crore.
As per RBI data shared by Karad with his reply, 2,326.02 crore digital payments were recorded in the financial year 2018-19, which increased to 3,400.25 crores in the financial year 2019-20. By the financial year 2020-21, the volume of digital transactions had increased to 4,374.45 crores.
Till October this year, a total of 3,682.84 crore digital payments were done in the nation.
Karad further stated that as apprised by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in terms of extant instructions, with effect from September 7, 1999, Scheduled Commercial Banks have however been given the freedom to fix service charges for various types of services rendered by them.
While fixing service charges, banks have, however, been advised to ensure that the charges are reasonable and not out of line with the average cost of providing these services.
