Demonetisation: AP Govt Considers Free Smartphones to BPL Families

[Dipika Menon]

In a bid to encourage the cashless economy, Andhra Pradesh Government headed by Chief Minister Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu is planning to distribute free smartphones to economically backward people. In the wake of ongoing shortage of low denomination notes, Mr. Naidu came up with this proposal during a review meeting with RBI officials and bankers.

Asking the officials to prepare a blueprint to launch the programme immediately, AP Chief Minister said, “Everybody needs a mobile phone for digital transactions, so we want to implement this idea and distribute mobile phones. “

Twin Benefits:

By deploying this idea, Mr. Naidu wants to accomplish twin goals: one is to facilitate the BPL families to get acquainted with digital transactions and the other to overcome the scarcity of low denomination currency notes.

As per an estimate, there would a requirement of 60-70 lakh smartphones in the state. The AP Government is currently in talks with several handset manufacturers including Micromax Informatics, Xiaomi Corp, Karbonn Mobiles, Celkon Impex, Intex Technologies, and Lava International to invest in creating a large ecosystem in the state.