Vodafone India on Wednesday went into partnership with the Madhya Pradesh Government to facilitate mobile-based disbursement of financial assistance to mothers under the Janani Suraksha Yojana scheme of the National Rural Health Mission.
The initiative, activated through Vodafone M-Pesa, Vodafone’s mobile money transfer and payment service has been running in pilot stage in Vidisha since May 2015 and is now ready to go pan state.
While talking to media persons, Suresh Sethi, Business Head - M-Pesa, Vodafone India, said the payment of health care subsidies under Janani Suraksha Yojana Scheme aims at reducing the neo-natal and maternal deaths in India by promoting institutional delivery of children. This scheme is operated under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) of Government of India and Vodafone India’s M-Pesa has been identified as the most suitable partner to facilitate digital transfer of financial disbursements for this scheme, offering a safe and secure mechanism to transfer funds.
The beneficiaries, with any active mobile number can directly receive payment of the subsidy. Once the payment is made, they will be intimated via SMS, mentioning the amount of subsidy, the withdrawal code and the withdrawal procedure. They can then withdraw the subsidy amount by simply authorizing the transaction with the withdrawal code at a nearby Vodafone MPESA retail outlet.
With the presence of 3720 outlets in MP, especially in small towns and villages, Vodafone M-Pesa is well on its way to partnering the government in its financial inclusion projects and disbursal of remittances for key government programmes, he added.