VIJAYAWADA: Keen on learning digital payment system, Ch Raghuramaiah, a farmer from Pamarru village in Krishna district has spent much of his time with bankers at a stall set up by the State government as part of Digi Dhan Mela at Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium (IGMC) here on Monday.
Since the demonetisation announcement, Raghuramaiah, who was unaware of digital payments had a harrowing time while purchasing fertilisers and pesticides in his town, though his bank account has enough cash. “After knowing about the Digi Dhan Mela through my son, I reached Vijayawada to get acquainted with the services being offered by the government and private banks, other financial institutions on cashless transactions through mobile apps.
The bank staff here installed a mobile app and activated internet banking for my account,” he said and added that he purchased seeds and fertilisers worth Rs 10,000 from a stall through cashless transactions.
People also made a beeline to purchase products and food items exhibited at the stalls arranged by the MEPMA and DRDA representatives. Most of the women who are aware of cashless transactions, purchased saris and handicraft products. Interestingly, they also taught the procedure to other people who were unaware of using plastic money.
Cashless society
As many as four e-PoS machines were placed at the stall arranged by the MEPMA to accept digital payments from the people. Several of them made purchases ahead of festive season through cards, said MEPMA member Meenakshi.
As many as 80 stalls were set up at the venue by the district administration. Most counters were set up by the banks and telecom service providers offering digital payment options, and dairy and grocery outlets advocating online payments for the public. The longest and possibly the only queue was witnessed at a Common Services Centre offering to make new Aadhaar cards or make corrections in the existing ones.
Unfortunately, many people seeking changes in their Aadhaar cards had not brought necessary documents along. At the other end, the online portals like Paytm and FreeCharge have also set up stalls at the mela and created awareness among the public. In Vijayawada, the Paytm has close to 10,000 merchants.