Now travel anywhere within India using the same card!

Are you tired of carrying ‘n’ numbers of cards as soon as you leave your house? The government has come out with a solution. The Ministry of Urban Development has launched a NCMC model to enable seamless travel by metros and other transportation systems across the country.

You can use the same card based on the Smart National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) model for shopping as well. This card does away with the need for carrying separate cards for banking and transit requirements.

Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has approved the 'EMV Open Loop Card with stored value' for this initiative.

Earlier, Naidu had set up a committee chaired by the additional secretary in the ministry to find an inter-operable mobility card that can be used across different transport systems in India and which can also be used as a credit or debit card as well.

This committee had representatives of National Informatics Centre (NIC), Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), National Payment Corporation of India (NCPI) and the Ministry of Finance.

After studying different models used across the world, the committee has recommended the EMV Open Loop Card with stored value.

This Smart Common Mobility Payment Card addresses the deficiencies associated with other cards being used in Singapore and other countries. This card meets travel needs based on stored value of money. The card can be used for travelling by any means of transport and also enables account based retail applications.

Globally, there is no nationwide common card except in Singapore where in inter-operability is confined to the city only. The committee has therefore recommended the EMV Open Loop Card with stored value for use across the country.

The ministry has decided to task the National Payments Corporation of India with indigenous development and management of clearing and settlement of payments, simulating cards, terminals and network, a support base of vendors for providing certified tools, cards, terminals and other services, in line with the 'Make in India' initiative.

(Image: Indiatimes)