Mastercard, Mahendra Singh Dhoni celebrate the contribution of small merchants towards India’s digital revolution
This Independence Day, Mastercard has taken yet another step towards encouraging small merchants to be a part of India’s digital revolution. In a video released by Mastercard on India’s 73rd Independence Day, Mahendra Singh Dhoni will trace the growth of our country since independence. He also expresses his gratitude towards our freedom fighters along with those who have carried on the legacy forward by making India economically strong, self-reliant and resilient i.e., our small and medium enterprises. These are the people who have taken India from Azadi to Atamanirbharta. The storyline further touches upon several aspects of how these merchants have not only made a significant contribution to the nation’s economy but also been an integral part of everyone’s day to day lives.
The new campaign led by Dhoni is an extension of Mastercard’s Team Cashless India initiative that aims to empower small merchants with digital payments. Under this initiative, Mastercard has launched a Pan-India educational drive for India’s merchants who often have an awareness gap about the merits of digital payments for their business. Through an on-ground outreach exercise Mastercard has contacted over 30000 merchants in 5 cities. Furthermore 13,000 nominations (and counting) have come in from people who would like their neighborhood merchant to be enabled with digital payments. In the latest video, Dhoni strengthens this message with yet another call for merchants to adopt digital payments and help realize the dream of digital India. Mastercard is also hosting a contest where merchants who accept digital payments currently can share their testimonials about how it has helped their business. Top 10 entries selected by the jury will be eligible for a Mastercard PricelessTM Surprise.
Even today, during such unprecedented times, the merchant’s community have been at the forefront of India’s fight against COVID-19, maintaining a delicate balance between social distancing and their societal commitment. Mastercard’s continuous endeavor is to empower these merchants with financial literacy and digital payments acceptance capabilities. Recently, Mastercard also announced a commitment of Rs 250 crores (US$33 million) to help reboot Indian SMEs and enable business recovery amid Covid-19 outbreak.