Payment services major Mastercard on Wednesday launched a nationwide initiative to increase the acceptance and adoption of digital payments among merchants.

The campaign is aimed at encouraging people to nominate one or more merchants who currently do not accept digital payments and Mastercard would work along with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), acquirer banks and fintech companies to support the nominated merchants to deploy digital payments acceptance infrastructure.

"Mastercard along with legendary cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, today announced the launch of a nationwide initiative to accelerate the acceptance and adoption of digital payments. Titled 'Team Cashless India', the initiative brings consumers and merchants to the forefront of the digital payments dialogue," the company said in a statement.

Mastercard will also conduct an outreach program across multiple cities to educate merchants on the benefits of accepting digital payments and to provide a platform for consumers to nominate merchants.

Manasi Narasimhan, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, South Asia, Mastercard said that the initiative would be carried out both in tier-I and tier-II cities and the emphasis will be more on the tier-II cities as the penetration of digital payments has not been as high as the metros.

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She also said that post demonetisation the adoption of digital payment services by both consumers and traders has increased and the the sector is likely to grow further. (IANS)