The PaHal scheme as on date covers
9.75 crore LPG consumers i.e 66% of the
total consumer base of 15 crore.
PaHaL (Pratyaksha
Hastaantarit Laabh) is the Direct
Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG Subsidy.
Under PaHaL, LPG cylinders are sold at
market rates and entitled consumers get the subsidy directly into their bank
accounts. This is done either through an Aadhaar linkage or a bank account
linkage.
An amount of Rs. 3654 crore has already
been transferred into the bank accounts of LPG consumers through 9.25 crore
transactions.
Overall only 1.09 lakh complaints have been
received so far, which constitute a mere 0.1% of the transactions. Over 85% of
the complaints have been resolved.
The success of this scheme can be
attributed to a multi pronged approach to the core audience. The core audiences
in PaHal scheme were the banks, lpg consumers, lpg dealers and lpg companies.
The single portal mylpg.in
with its simple user interface was the common tool which linked the banks,
consumers and the lpg dealers.
At the same time, this portal also
is an important tool in bringing transparency.
The various options available in the
portal can be better understood with the following picture
The next step should be to digitize the
payments from consumers end. The credit to the consumer’s bank account is already
in electronic mode. It would be logical to roll out mobile POS terminals to
collect the gas cylinders monies from the consumers.
The benefits are manifold:
a)
Familiarize
a large chunk of the population with Safe eTransactions
b)
Boost
the Mobile POS market
c)
Reduce
the cash handling cost
d)
Play
an active role in keeping the PMJDY Rupay cards active
e)
Migrate
a large number of transactions from Cash mode to CashLess mode
