to instantly read 150+ free stories & 250-word summaries of all our stories

Return gift

Cashbacks for all: Government splurges on BHIM, digital transactions

Till now, the government of India has spent close to Rs 500 crore in cashbacks for payment app BHIM. It wants to spend more. But Rs 500 crore is a lot of money. Taxpayer money. Is it being spent well?

01/06/18

Shashidhar KJ

The government’s spending close to Rs 2500 crore to promote digital payments through cashbacks, including the UPI

BHIM had an outlay of Rs 495 crore for cashbacks. But it accounts for only 6.6% of all UPI transactions

The thing to watch out for is if these cashbacks cause enough behaviour change to displace cash transactions

Onboarding new merchants on a new payment system has its own challenges

bhimcashbacks-1920x1068.jpg

Want to read a free 200 word summary?

Fancy yourself. What would you do with Rs 495 crore ($73.5 million)? It could get you about 100 Lamborghini Aventadors. It could get you around three Boeing 747s. You could potentially buy almost half a percent in Flipkart, which is valued at over $20 billion. But if you are the Government of India, you’d do…

Read the full story. Subscribe now.

Why subscribe? Let us explain.

Already Registered?

Related stories

More stories in /Analysis & /Reportage

See all in Reportage, Startups & Technology

This story is for subscribers only.
or

Read the full story. Subscribe now.

Why subscribe? Let us explain.

The selected story is available only for paid subscribers. Might want to change your mind!

Subscribe now

Already Registered?

Questions?

What is The Ken?

The Ken is a subscription-driven media site. We write one story a day (weekdays only). These stories have sharp, original insights on technology, business, science and healthcare from India.

Why do I have to sign up to read your stories?

Our stories are not free. Well, some select stories are. But, a significant part of what we write at The Ken is for subscribers only. We put in a lot of effort and resources in writing our stories and believe that you must pay for good journalism.
Hence, our three plans. 1) The annual membership
2) The free sign up
3) The recurring quarterly subscription

On journalism and why you should pay for it, if you haven’t already seen it, here’s a great explainer from John Oliver.

So, one must pay for journalism?

Yes.

How many stories will I get if I take an annual membership?

200+ stories.

And, in the free sign up?

Four stories every month.

Do I get a refund?

We allow you to sample our journalism for free before signing up, and after you do, we stand by its quality. But we do not offer refunds.

I am not getting my daily emails. Do I have to whitelist emails from The Ken?

An added benefit of your subscription (free/paid) are the daily personalised emails. These emails, at times, might end up in your spam/junk folder due to emojis, attachments or images. In case you’re not receiving these emails, it might help to whitelist us. If the problem still persists, write to us at [email protected].

Why am I unable to access the archives?

Full and unrestricted access to our archives is a feature of our annual membership.

My payment is not going through, what can I do?

Please write to us at [email protected] detailing the payment error or queries.

See all FAQs

    See all results for Ken

    No results found for Ken.