The Cooperative Banks and the Regional Rural Banks (RRB) would issue over 41,41,013 RuPay Kisan Credit Cards (RuPay KCCs) to farmers across the State. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) would extend financial support to these banks for the purpose in order to encourage cashless payment modes in rural parts of the State after the demonetisation.
RuPay KCC is a smart card used by farmers at automated teller machines (ATMs) or points of sales (PoS) machines, where it could be swiped for withdrawing cash or making payments.
Nabard Odisha Chief General Manager Dr KC Panigrahi on Monday said the cards would be distributed by March 2017.
He said the Nabard has already sanctioned Rs 25 crore to nine commercial banks in the State for information communication technology (ICT) interventions with an aim to bring the disadvantaged population under the umbrella of financial services.
To ensure doorstep delivery of banking services to farmers, he said the Nabard has also supported these financial institutions to deploy two points of sale (PoS) machines each in villages having a population up to 10,000 across the State.
Panigrahi said keeping in view the low level literacy and awareness in connection with digital and modern modes of financial transactions in rural and tribal populations (dFlAPs), out of total 18,570 dFlAPs which are to be conducted throughout the country, 1,560 programmes have been allotted to Odisha.
“A digital and cashless country is the mission of present India. The importance of this mission is being felt especially after the demonetisation. The Nabard will extend all support to overcome the challenge,” said Panigrahi.
He also informed that out of the total provision of Rs2,300-crore loan for the 2016-17 fiscal, the Nabard has already given Rs1,100 crore to the State Government so far and the rest would be provided by March 31.