Huge spike in digital transactions at Mother Dairy booths and Safal outlets post demonetisation, says Radha Mohan Singh

Digital transactions at Mother Dairy booths and Safal outlets in the national capital have increased substantially in the wake of demonetisation, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Saturday.

Mother Dairy is presently accepting payments through SBI Dairy Smart card and PayTM mode. It is also exploring other digital modes like Aadhar enabled payment service (AEPS).

“Total value of transactions through digital mode at Mother Dairy and Safal outlets, which was Rs 13 lakh per day before November 8, has increased to Rs 78.84 lakh (rpt) lakh per day post demonetisation,” Singh told reporters after visiting a few Mother Dairy and Safal outlets located in Lutyens zone.

Initially, people faced some problems but gradually they are switching over to digital payments, he said.

Mother Dairy Managing Director S Nagarajan said that PayTM has been installed in almost all milk booths and Safal outlets, while SBI dairy smart cards in 787 booths and 87 Safal outlets.

“There are still many Safal outlets where SBI smart card service is not there. We will cover all in the next 2-3 weeks,” he told PTI. He also mentioned that at present the Point of sale machines at Mother Dairy outlets can process SBI Smart cards and not other debit cards.

“We are not allowing other digital cards because the company will have to pay merchandise charges of 2 per cent. It is a cost on the company. So, we are exploring other digital platforms like AEPS, Unified Payments Interface which are less expensive mode,” he said.