DIGITAL PAYMENT MELA HELD FOR TELECOM RETAILERS AT LUDHIANA
Ludhiana, October 9, 2018: Office of Controller of Communication Accounts, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India, Punjab Circle organised a Digital Payment Mela at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan, Ludhiana today for retailers of Telecom Service Providers, general retailers, merchants and citizens in collaboration and coordination with Municipal Corporation and Ludhiana Smart City Ltd.
The Mela was inaugurated by Mr. Pradeep Kumar Agrawal, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana. In his address, he stressed upon the people of all walks to adopt the digital modes of payments to make this country corruption free. He said that The Digital India programme was 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 roles of Digital India.
Mr. Rakesh Gupta CCA. Mrs. Shilpi Sinha Jt CCA. Mrs. Meenakshi Yadav Jt CCA, Ms. Sushma Negi, Team from O/o Controller of Communication Accounts, Dept. Of Telecom, Ministry Of Communications, Govt. Of India, Punjab Circle were also present at the inaugural session.
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 the 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 the keen interest in the presentation on various digital modes of payments. Verka, Markfed Milkfed had also put up their stalls.
PNB, the lead bank in Punjab, India Post Payment Bank (IPPB), Department of Posts, Axis Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, State bank of India, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and other banks 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 organization 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. Similar Digital Payment Melas have been held in all the other smart cities in Punjab & U.T., Chandigarh, Jalandhar, and Amritsar. The Digital Payment Mela was also attended by the general public and students.