Lucky draw boosts use of debit cards

The programme, which has been enthusiastically received, has helped increase the monthly number of debit card transactions by 30 per cent over the past year.
Dr Somchai Sujjapongse, permanent secretary for finance, said the programme was initiated under the National e-Payment Project, with the aim of stimulating debit card spending.
After its launch, the market has become more active, with 54.2 million debit cards issued by financial institutions across the country and 5.5 million spending transactions per month. That represented 30 per cent growth over last year’s figure of 4.3 million transactions per month.
Monthly card spending value now stands at Bt10 billion. Two electronic data capture (EDC) service providers that started the present EDC initiative in March have so far installed 150,000 electronic devices at more than 90,000 shops and government agencies.
Somchai chaired the prize-presentation ceremony and handed over the top prizes of Bt1 million each for a cardholder and a card-accepting merchant during the period of June 1-30. The lucky winners were Phalittha Sunthra and Prasit Borikan Limited Partnership.
Other prizes were presented by Narin Kalayanamitr, chief inspector general of the Ministry of Finance, and Sirithida Phanomwan Na Ayutthaya, assistant governor for payment system policy and financial technology at the Bank of Thailand.
There were 10 prizes of Bt100,000 each for cardholders and five prizes of Bt30,000 each for  merchants. In a further tranche, there were 1,007 prizes amounting to Bt6.75 million.
There will be 10 more monthly prize ceremonies under the lucky draw, with 1,001 prizes for cardholders and 6-30 prizes for EDC-equipped merchants. The programme will continue until April 2018.
More details can be found at www.epayment.go.th.