Soon, Indians will have smart cards for your shopping and travel purposes across the country.
The Ministry of Urban Development has come out with a Smart National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) model to enable travel by different metros and other transport systems across the country besides retail shopping and purchases.
Recently, a committee conducted a study on various smart card models followed across the world and recommended the EMV Open Loop Card with stored value based model. Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu has approved the EMV Open Loop Card with stored value.
This Smart Common Mobility Payment Card addresses travel needs based on stored value of money and 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 city only. The committee, hence, recommended EMV Open Loop Card with stored value for use across the country.
C-DAC will develop the standards and hardware for Metro gates / validators along with related ecosystems. Funding of Rs 4.47 crore has been approved.
