Context:
- Prime Minister of India recently launched a National Common Mobility Card (NCMC).
Key features:
- Dubbed as ‘One Nation One Card’, the inter-operable transport card would allow the holders to pay for their bus travel, toll taxes, parking charges, retail shopping and even withdraw money.
- This card runs on RuPay card. With the advent of this indigenously-developed and one-of-its-kind card, the country is no longer required to be dependent on foreign technology.
- The stored value on card supports offline transaction across all travel needs with minimal financial risk to involved stakeholders.
- Ministry of housing & urban affairs brought to the fore the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) to enable seamless travel by different metros and other transport systems across the country besides retail shopping and purchases.
Need and significance of NCMC:
- Public transport is extensively used across India as the economical and convenient mode of commuting for all classes of society. Cash continues to be the most preferred mode of fare payments across the public transport.
- However, there are multiple challenges associated with the cash payment such as cash handling, revenue leakages, cash reconciliation etc.
- Various initiatives have been taken by transit operators to automate and digitize the fare collection using Automatic Fare Collection System (AFC).
- The introduction of closed loop cards issued by these operators helped to digitize the fare collection to a significant extent. However, the restricted usability of these payment instruments limits the digital adoption by customers.
Source:PIB