One Nation One Card: All you need to know
In a bid to facilitate seamless travel payments across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a new initiative termed 'One Nation One Card.' Under the scheme, an indigenously-developed, inter-operable transport card called National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) powered by RuPay, was announced. The card can be used to make payments across all public transport departments, viz. city buses, metro, suburban railways etc.
Here's what the Prime Minister said
The NCMC was launched during the inauguration of the first phase of the Ahmedabad Metro rail service. According to PM Modi, "This card runs on RuPay and it will eliminate all your travel-related problems. Many a times, we do not have cash change while traveling in metro, bus or train, or for toll and parking. To overcome this issue, an automatic fare collection system was introduced."
The move unifies travel payments across the country
"Since (earlier) systems were made by different players, a card issued in one city did not work in another. Thus, we asked various ministries, departments and even banks to resolve this issue." "Now, we have this 'Made in India' card. Only a select few countries have this technology of One Nation One Card," said the Prime Minister.
A revolutionary payment system
Payment system and nature of the card
The NCMC is powered by RuPay payments system, and can be issued in forms of debit, credit, or prepaid cards of a partner bank. The card acts both as your regular debit/credit card and a contactless card, such as a Metro Rail smart card. Apart from major public/private banks, the card can also be issued by Paytm's banking system, ie. Paytm Payments Bank.
Other details and benefits
Further, the NCMC card can be used to pay off parking fee and toll taxes, throughout the country. The system's technology is supported by home-grown Automatic Fare Collection Gate namely Swagat and an Open Loop Automatic Fare Collection System called Sweekar. Users can earn cashback of 5% at ATMs and 10% on merchant outlet transactions on overseas travel.
How to get the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC)?
The RuPay contactless card, with NCMC support will be made available at 25 private and public banks, including SBI, PNB, and others. You can get in touch with your bank to get a RuPay NCMC card.
