The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Villagers to get plastic card facility

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Friday, Feb 01, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Villagers to get plastic card facility

Ravi Reddy

State toying with idea of enabling cashless transactions

HYDERABAD: Plastic money is no longer a style statement of an urban Indian alone. Soon the rural folks will be able to swipe plastic cards for purchasing grocery in their neighbourhoods.

Having successfully disbursed payments under the AP Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (APREGS) and the Social Security Pension Scheme (SSP) on a pilot basis in the State, the government is now toying with the idea of opening one more window for the benefit of rural people, enabling cashless transactions. With the smart card technology, which enables the rural people to access banking services with the help of a business correspondent at their doorstep, the cards can soon be used at a village store.

Successful project

As the project proved very successful in Warangal and Karimnagar districts, the government extended the facility to Medak, Mahabubnagar, Chittoor, East Godavari, West Godavari, Nellore, Krishna and Visakhapatnam districts.

“We are identifying the grocers or kirana merchants in villages,” Principal Secretary (Rural Development) K. Raju told The Hindu.

“All that a shopkeeper has to do is to carry either a palmtop handheld recorder or a mobile phone-based device. Once the beneficiary makes a purchase, the grocer can swipe the smart card and complete the transaction,” he pointed out.

This is part of the 14 additional services that the government intends to offer through smart cards. “As the APERGS and pension payments are deposited in the bank accounts, the smart card can be used as a debit card,” he said. Mr. Raju said the Reserve Bank of India has constituted a high-level committee to examine how the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) framework of the State government for direct disbursement of benefits could be aligned with the Electronic Payment System Initiatives in the country, especially in the context of the recent Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

He said the committee, which is expected to submit its report before March 31, would examine the implications and advisability of government benefits being routed through the service providers, who may or may not be the banks. It will also suggest measures for meeting the accounting, auditing and MIS requirements of various government departments for distributing benefits when multiple banks, service providers are deployed for electronic transfer.

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