The Odisha State Beverages Corporation limited (OSBCl) has gone online for cashless transactions. The online payment module was on Friday inaugurated by Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the corporation office at the Fortune Towers here.

Padhi said, “This is another step forward towards ease of doing business which is a priority area of the State Government. The module will enable quick and transparent transactions thereby helping the retailers to do their business without hurdles from the corporation side.”

Padhi asked the OSBCl also to initiate steps for automating other operations like godown management, inventory management up to the retail level, etc.

Excise Secretary Bishnupada Sethi said the online system has been developed within a week because of the active support of the State Bank of India (SBI) and the National Informatics Centre.

OSBCl Managing Director Dwijaraj Kara said the corporation has implemented an online system for generation of indent by the liquor suppliers, purchase orders by the corporation, excise permits by the excise authorities, consignment dispatch note by the liquor suppliers and stock receipt note by the corporation on a cent-per cent real time platform.

The OSBCl has nine depots at Chandikhol, Khordha, Nirgundi, Angul, Sambalpur, Baleswar, Brahmapur, Rayagada and Balagir. There are nearly 1,600 retailers attached to these depots. In the first phase, the online payment module would be implemented at the Chandikhol depot. The system would be rolled out to other depots within a period of two to three months.

Excise Commissioner Prasant Kumar Senapati, SBI General Manager BVG Reddy and NIC DDG NIC PK Paramanik were present at the ceremony.