Digital University Kerala (DUK) has bagged the National Award for e-Governance instituted by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) for the Lucky Bill App it developed for the Kerala Goods and Services Tax (GST) department to ensure tax compliance and promote transparency in financial transactions.
DUK Vice-Chancellor Saji Gopinath led the team of developers to receive the award at the two-day 26th National Conference on e-Governance which concluded in Indore on Friday. DUK won the Silver Award in the category ‘Research on Citizen Centric Services by Academic/Research Institutions’. The award includes a citation and a cash prize of ₹5 lakh.
Inspired by the success of the application, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs had adopted the Lucky Bill model to pilot the Mere Bill Mere Adhikar invoice incentive scheme in Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu from September 1, the project’s principal coordinator Sanil P. Nair of DUK said.
Prof. Gopinath said the artificial intelligence-based solution has enhanced transparency in the GST process. “We are happy to note that this pioneering concept of Lucky Bill is now being adopted across the nation. It is for the first time that a State university has received the prestigious award in the particular category,” he added.
Aimed at promoting an “ask for bills” culture among consumers, the Lucky Bill app is believed to have helped the State GST department to increase tax collection by scrutinising the returns filed by traders.
According to Prof. Nair, over 17 lakh bills have been uploaded to the system by more than 1.25 lakh registered users since its launch in August 2022. Over 11,000 rewards have also been distributed to the winners of regular draws conducted among users. Several violations were detected with the help of the Lucky Bill system. After the introduction of the Lucky Bill app, Kerala recorded a 26% increase in revenue in June compared to the previous year, he pointed out.
The team of developers also include project coordinator Manoj Kumar T.K. of DUK, and Sreejith G and Amal K.J. as team leads. The domain experts for the application development team were Shahul Hammed and Mansoor of the State GST department.
