India, Feb. 1 -- Reflecting a significant move in digital payments, the government has lowered its incentives for promoting RuPay debit cards and low-value UPI transactions up to INR 2,000.

The Budget document tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman revealed a reduction in the incentive scheme for promoting RuPay debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (person-to-merchant) from INR 2,000 Cr last year to INR 437 Cr for the upcoming fiscal year.

However, the INR 2,000 Cr allocation in 2024 was a revised estimate against the INR 1,441 Cr earmarked in the budget estimate for 2024.

Notably, the government has been gradually reducing allocations for this scheme over the years. In 2023, the scheme was introduced with an initial ...