Budget 2019: After PAN & Aadhar, govt to now push ‘National Common Mobility Card’ (NCMC)

July 6: During her Budget speech on 5 July, 2019, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the benefits of National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), launched in March this year. Her speech revealed that the government was keen on pushing this new card among the people of the country. The indigenously-developed card runs on Rupay. It is issued by banks on debit/credit/pre-paid card basis.

Speaking about its benefits, FM Sitharaman said: “The NCMC standard developed is an inter-operable transport card allows holders to pay for their bus travel, toll taxes, parking charges, retail shopping and withdraw cash.”

National Common Mobility Card, also known as One Nation One Card, is an inter-operable transport card conceived by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs of the Government of India. It was launched on 4 March 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said during the launch, the country is “no longer required to be dependent on foreign technology”.NCMC is an inter-operable transport card conceived by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs of the Government of India.

Money Control lists the following key point one needs to know about the National Common Mobility Card/One Nation One Card (NCMC):

• The mobility card can be issued in the form of debit, credit or prepaid card of a partner bank.
• The card is similar to any RuPay debit/credit card, which will be available with more than 25 banks, including the State Bank of India (SBI).
• The card can be used for making payments across all segments including metro, bus, suburban railways, smart city and retail shopping.
• The card can also be used for paying at toll plazas and for parking.
• The card offers cashback on bill payments and more than thousand other offers.
• A cardholder can also avail 5 percent cash back at ATMs and 10 percent cash back at merchant outlets while travelling abroad.
• It is supported by indigenously developed Automatic Fare Collection Gate ‘Swagat’ and an Open Loop Automatic Fare Collection System ‘Sweekar’. Both ‘Swagat’ and ‘Sweekar’ were launched by PM Modi on March 4.