The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) is an inter-system transport card that was launched on March 4, 2019. The card allows travellers to pay for travel, toll duties (toll tax), retail shopping as well as withdraw money. The card can function as a travel smart card on several transport systems including the Delhi Metro Corporation, Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) bus services, and Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) bus services among other public transit across the country.
On January 19, the Mumbai Metro will be added to the NCMC network as well, becoming the second public transit system in the city to accept the mobility card. The card falls under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘One Nation One Card’ initiative.
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Aim
Launched with the aim of providing a common contactless transport solution by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the NCMC card relies on the RuPay platform developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The card is issued in the form of a prepaid, debit, or credit RuPay card by 25 banks including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Paytm Payments Bank and more.
Since its launch, global payment processing giants Mastercard and Visa were also keen to join the NCMC project to allow their brand’s NCMCs to be issued by partnered banks.
Significance
The NCMC is part of the drive to automate and digitise fare collection using Automatic Fare Collection Systems (AFCs). But the project is also part of greater schemes to drive digitisation in payments, developing smart cities, and bringing multiple transit operators on a common platform for the ease of passengers. By making the card available to everyone across every city, the government also hoped to increase the use of public transport by residents.
The idea of the card was first floated by the Deepening of Digital Payments (CDDP) committee, which was established by the Reserve Bank of India and chaired by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
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