Narendra Modi rolls out cashless township model
The model, developed Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers, has been replicated across 81 townships across the country
Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a cashless/less cash township model in Nagpur on Friday. The model has been developed by fertilizer maker Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd and has been replicated across 81 townships across the country, GNFC said in a statement.
GNFC’s township at Bharuch in Gujarat became India’s first complete cashless township post the demonetisation drive announced by the prime minister on 8 November.
The townships across 12 states were facilitated to become cashless/less cash under the auspices of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, said Rajiv Gupta, managing director of GNFC.
NITI Aayog advised all government of India ministries and CMDs of 300 plus central PSUs to adopt GNFC’s model and replicate it, according to Gupta.
The 81 townships include those of public sector companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Indian Oil Corp., NTPC, Border Security Force as well as private sector townships set up by companies such as Reliance Industries Ltd, Essar Oil Ltd, Adani Ports and SEZ, Aditya Birla group, and Welspun group.
The cashless/less cash townships are in states including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Chhatisgarh and Delhi. They cover a population of around 2 lakh and collectively do about 250,000 transactions per day or almost 9 crore in a year, GNFC said in the statement.
Of the 81 townships, 56 are in Gujarat, it added.
In February, GNFC, Gujarat-based fertilizer and chemical manufacturing company, made all financial transactions 100% digital at its industrial township in Bharuch.
“This initiative is aligned with the PM’s vision for a cashless society. The trends that have emerged from a PwC’s study on Impact Assessment of GNFC’s cashless initiative clearly show that going cashless is a step in the right direction for our country due to the significant socio-economic benefits,” Gupta said.
As per the PwC India study, the move resulted in cost savings for over 90% farmers arising from fewer trips to fertilizer shops and discounts on cashless transactions. Electronic transactions resulted in better money management for over 90% farmers. Farmers felt more empowered and over 94% preferred cashless transactions over cash ones. For over 63%, reliance on cash has dramatically reduced.
The study further suggested that 92.3% of households believed there was a significant reduction in the use of cash, resulting in more convenience when transacting for daily activities. Around 98% of households said they saved time doing cashless transactions.
An estimated 87% of fertilizer retailers reported a rise in total revenues, revenue per transaction and total transactions, according to the study.
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First Published:14 Apr 2017, 10:36 PM IST
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