The Digital India programme is a flagship programme of Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy ‘Faceless, paperless, cashless’ is one of the professed role of Digital India. Office of Controller of Communication Accounts, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India, Punjab Circle organised a Digital Payment Mela at the Heritage Walk, Amritsar on 04.10.2018 for retailers of Telecom Service Providers, general retailers, merchants and citizens in collaboration and coordination with Municipal Corporation and Smart city Amritsar.The Mela was inaugurated by Sh. Karamjit Singh Sandhu, Mayor Amritsar City. Smt. Komal Mittal, I.A.S, CEO cum Additional Commissioner, Amritsar Smart City Ltd., Smt. Deepti Uppal, IAS, Chief Administrator, Amritsar Development Authority, Sh. Gurpartap Singh Happy and Sh. Sunil Sharma Councillors, Amritsar also attended the event.Leading Telecom Service Providers such as Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone-Idea, Tata Teleservices and Connect Broadband Services participated in the event and put up stalls for the benefit of public. Connect Broadband Services provided free Wifi for the event.
Retailers from all Telecom Service Providers attended the event in large numbers and were seen taking keen interest in the presentation on various digital modes of payments. Verka had also put up its stall.PNB, the lead bank in Punjab, India Post Payment Bank (IPPB), Department of Posts and ICICI put up their stalls and were giving live demonstration to the public and retailers about their various digital payment applications/products as part of their endeavour to digitalise payments in the smart city.National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation for all retail payments in India participated in the event and arranged for guidance presentations, live demos, hands-on-session etc. to educate the participants about its various modes of digital payments/Apps such as Bharat QR, BHIM, BHIM Aadhar etc.The Digital Payment Mela was also attended by representatives of Ranjit Avenue Market Association.Similar Digital Payment Melas were held at Chandigarh and Jalandhar. The next one is scheduled to be held in Ludhiana on 9th October, 2018.