Digital payments made up 99.7% transactions by volume in 2024 KOchi l friday l october 24, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION Digital payments accounted for 99.7% of total transactions by volume and 97.5% by value in 2024, the RBI said in a report on Thursday Trend continues in first half of 2025 There were 20,849 crore digital transactions in 2024, up from 3,248 crore in 2019, the RBI said in its half-yearly Payment System Report. In terms of value, C2,830 lakh crore was transacted through digital payment systems in 2024.The transaction volume for the first half of 2025 stood at 12,549 crore, amounting to C1,572 lakh crore CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Tejashwi is INDIA bloc’s CM face, Sahani deputy Announcement after Gehlot-Lalu meet; no word yet on seat sharing RAMA S HANKAR @ Patna After weeks of hectic parleys, the opposition INDIA bloc on Thursday declared Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Bihar elections. Cong ress leader Ashok Gehlot announced the decision at a press meet in Patna, a day after he and party’s state incharge Krishna Allavaru met RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi to end the stalemate over seat-sharing and ‘friendly fight’ in a few seats. However, in the press meet, there was no announcement of any seat-sharing deal. Gehlot, who has been camping in Patna since Wednesday, said Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani will be the alliance’s deputy CM face. He said more deputy CMs would be appointed if INDIA bloc comes to power. Tejashwi, Sahani, CPI-ML (Liberation)’s Dipankar Bhattacharya, and state Congress president Rajesh Ram addressed the press meet along with Gehlot. “Tejashwi is a young and dynamic leader. We are also declaring Mukesh Sahani, an EBC leader, who has struggled to rise to this position, as the deputy CM face. Sahani is a messiah of his (Mallah) commu- Vikassheel Insan Party chief Mukesh Sahani, CPI-ML leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav during a press conference in Patna on Thursday | PTI People won’t forget ‘jungle raj’ for 100 yrs: Modi Referring to the RJD rule in the past as ‘jungle raj’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said people won’t forget it for another 100 years. Modi said the opposition alliance is not a ‘gathbandhan’ but a ‘lathbandhan’ (coalition of criminals) as its leaders are out on bail nity After we win the elections, . some people from other sections of society could also be made deputy CMs,” Gehlot said. Tejashwi thanked his father Lalu, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge for reposing faith in him. “I alone will not become CM but everyone from Bihar will become Change Makers (CMs),” he remarked. He claimed if a gover nment is formed under his leadership, he would do all the develop- ment works the NDA could not do in 20 years, in just 20 months. Taking a dig at the NDA for not announcing its CM face, Tejashwi said, “Why did the NDA not declare Nitish the CM face? We have been saying that the BJP will not make Nitish the CM. Amit Shah has also clearly said it the elected MLAs will take a decision on this… You (the BJP) have always declared a CM face. Why not this time?” Gehlot also targeted Shah, saying: “Your contention that Nitish will lead the NDA in the P10 polls has no meaning.”  ‘Carbide gun’ partially blinds at least 14 in MP How it works A n u r a a g S i n g h @ Bhopal A ‘desi firecracker gun’ landed as many as 122 Deepawali revelers in hospitals across Madhya Pradesh, at least 14 of whom have partially lost their eyesight. Better known as a ‘carbide gun’, the contraption got humongous traction on social media and became a must have ‘equipment’ for children and teenagers looking for a big bang. Priced at `150–200, they were sold as toys despite the possibility of misfire. By the time the state government banned it on October 18, they had already entered many SIT arrests Murari Babu S h a n A S @T’Puram The special investigation team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold scam has arrested former Sabarimala administrative officer B Murari Babu, an accused in the case. He was taken into custody from his house at Perunna on Wednesday night and brought to Thiruvananthapuram, where his arrest was recorded after interrogation. Murari was later produced before the Ranni Judicial First Class Magistrate court, which remanded him in 14-day judicial custody Noticeably the SIT . , didn’t ask for his custody . The remand report said Murari had consciously mentioned the gold-plated sheets as copper sheets in Sabarimala records, ● More on P4 sources said.  1 2 First, calcium carbide goes into the hole Next, water added, produces acyteline gas ‘Cannon’ Bore Cannon Drum Igniter homes. Vidisha, which neighbours Bhopal, is the worst-hit among all districts. The Vidisha district police have ar- 3 Igniter burns gas, creates a big bang rested six persons for the illegal sale of the guns. “I can’t see anything since the carbide gun we bought on Deepawali exploded. One of my eyes has burnt completely,” recounted 17-year-old Neha, who is currently recuperating at the state government’s Hamidia Hospital in Bhopal. Of the 122 patients, 26 are under treatment at Hamidia Hospital. Some teenagers attempted to make them at home using plastic or tin pipes, filling them with gunpowder, matchstick heads and calcium carbide. One such teen Raj Vishwakarma said, “I attempted to make it at home. That was when it went off on my face, resulting in loss of sight in one of the eyes.” Sprinter breaks 37-year-old record at school sports meet As w i n As o k K u m a r @T’Puram As the crowd at Chandrasekhar Nair Stadium dispersed on Thursday Athul T M, , the new record holder in 100m Junior Boys, spotted Ram Kumar. The duo greeted each other by shaking hands, which later turned into a tight hug. Heart-warming scenes unfolded during the finals of the much-awaited track events at the stadium here, as the 16-yearold Alappuzha native broke a 37-year-old record, held by Ram, at the Kerala State School Sports Meet. The meet record for the 100m (Junior Boys) was 10.90 seconds, set in 1988. During the shortlisting heats held earlier EXPRESS READ Athul T M with Ram Kumar after breaking the record set by the latter in 1988 | Vincent Pulickal in the day, Athul surpassed it with a time of 10.79 seconds, leaving even the authorities awestruck. In the finals, he recorded a time of 10.81 sec● More on P4 onds.  Govt ignores CPI oppn, signs PM SHRI deal T’Puram: Ignoring stiff opposition from ally CPI, the CPM-led LDF government signed the MoU with the Centre for implementing the PM SHRI scheme in state. P4 18 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express