West Godavari: Novel initiative for fund transfers

Rajahmundry: As the Centre promotes cashless transactions in the aftermath of demonetisation as a move to tackle black money, graft and terrorism, the West Godavari administration has come up with a novel initiative.

Cards will be issued to the general public in order to be able to carry out cashless transactions; and these cards will be secured using an Aadhar-based QR code and a PIN to avoid misuse.

The authorities are in the process of conducting surveys and collecting details that are required for the cards to be issued. These details include a person’s name, photograph, address, phone number, Aadhar number and QR code, bank account number, bank IFSC code, Mobile Money Identifier which is a seven digit code issued by a bank to each registered customer using their mobile banking service, and a Virtual ID which allows the card holder to use the United Payment Interface application of a bank for fund transfer.

This card will allow the user to operate services including net banking, debit or credit card transactions, mobile wallet and digital wallet payments, United Payment Interface (UPI) applications and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) applications.

My Money Cards care being issued to the general public and My Money Business Card to the owners of commercial establishments. The district authorities say that if any card holder wishes to carry out a cashless transaction, all he needs to do is to give his card to the seller, and specify the amount to be paid.

The seller then has to scan the QR code printed on the card using the UPI application on his smartphone to receive the amount from the Aadhar-seeded bank account of the card holder.

In order to ensure security, the card holder must enter the PIN on the seller’s device, without which the transaction will not be completed. This ensures that in the event of a card getting lost, no one will be able to transfer funds from the card holder’s account.

This card will be used by all kinds of people, including senior citizens, farmers, traders, vendors, hawkers, people who struggle with radical changes in payment methods, and even those who cannot remember bank account information, the various IDs and codes.

Collector of the West Godavari district K. Bhaskar said, “We are going to issue cards containing all the necessary information regarding bank account details, IDs and codes to help people carry out cashless transactions with ease, as it is difficult for some people to remember all the information when it is needed.”

Traders seek awareness on cashless transactions
In order to help people conduct cashless transactions with ease, district authorities have asked the owners of commercial establishments to display details of their UPI Virtual ID, QR Code, Bank Account Number, IFSC Code, and MMID in front of their shops on banners.

This information is required by people to be able to transfer money to the bank accounts of the owner or the establishment after having made purchases; and the authorities want to ensure that it is easily accessible.

An awareness drive is being carried out among shop owners as well as the general public, asking them to open bank accounts and avail of the various payment options available.

“Though we welcome this initiative of the district administration, we appeal to them to increase awareness among people regarding the use of cashless transactions. It will need to be implemented in commercial establishments gradually, as people above the age of 50 are unable to cope with the technology required to carry out such transactions,” said Vankayala Ramakrishna Rao.