Centre moots cashless society for Odisha

The Centre today asked the public sector banks including SBI to push for a cashless society and popularise use of debit cards in Odisha by taking assistance of Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) and Common Service Centres (CSCs).
The direction in this regard was issued by Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan who took stock of the situation in the wake of demonetisation.
"Use of e-wallet should be made popular in unorganised sectors also," Pradhan told the meeting attended by representatives of different banks, Nalco, Paradip Port Trust, MCL and other central government organisations.
The focus in the meeting was on how SBI can take lead role in Odisha to set up a cashless society and widen scope of using plastic money, Pradhan told reporters.

He said banks should develop a user friendly e-wallet in mother tongue like Odiya.
Pradhan pointed out that there were 6,916 common service centres windows and they existed in most of the gram panchyats.

Pradhan called for utilising the CSC and NYK effectively to spread the message of digital literacy and financial inclusion in remote areas.
As first step, the Railways and SBI jointly will make a begining by opening a digital literacy and financial inclusion centre at Bhubaneswar railway station. The same can be replicated in commercial hub of Cuttack, he said.
This apart, the digital literacy and financial inclusion centre should be established in petrol pump, post offices, railway stations, bus stands, labour contract mandi, port areas to sensitise daily customers, he said.