400,000 smart cards to be distributed for MGNREGS
Punjab National Bank (PNB), the public sector bank is aiming at issuing a total of 400,000 smart cards in the impoverished Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.
The smart cards would facilitate payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to the local people.
The Bank had already distributed 112,000 smart cards in the district under a pilot project and the target is to reach 400,000.
“The Centre has mandated PNB to create an ideal Smart Card mechanism in Sonbhadra, so that it could be replicated in other parts of the country as well,” PNB General Manager Rohtash Kumar told Business Standard here.
He maintained that the smart card payment system had the potential to revolutionise the agriculture sector in Uttar Pradesh by providing an instantaneous and corruption-free mode of money transfer to the unlettered rural populace.
Kumar said the local entrepreneurs and companies should come forward to use the Smart Card system in agro-based industries, including pisciculture, dairy, etc.
PNB already has a tie-up with Mother Dairy to benefit dairy owners in several western UP districts, including Bulandshahr, Badaun, Agra and Bareilly.
Mother Dairy collects milk from the dairy owners, which is chilled, measured and its fat content ascertained by an automatic chilling machine. The price depends upon the fat content of the individual dairy owners, who is given a receipt for future reference. Then the data for individual milk producer is relayed to PNB, which ensures payment directly to the bank account. The account holders can withdraw cash from the authorised agents of PNB with the help of smart cards by providing bio-metric identification.
Similar projects are underway in some other places, including Kanpur, he said.
Meanwhile, the Bank is planning to expand its network of retail branches and automated teller machines (ATMs) in the state.
