YES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector bank, launched a co-branded prepaid card for the citizens of Puduchchery Smart City in partnership with Puducherry Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), a Company incorporated under The Companies Act 1956. The pre paid card is a RUPAY card. The project was launched today by Chief Minister of Puducherry, V Narayanasamy. The programme aims to bolster Digital Payments ecosystem in Puduchchery and aid the Digital India initiatives of Government of India.
As a part of this project, YES BANK has digitized payments for Government to Citizen (G2C) services as well as for retail payments. The solution allows citizens as well as tourists traveling to Puduchchery to make instant payments via an open loop prepaid card, specially designed for their payment needs. Users of the card can now make day-to-day payments at PTDC authorized outlets, like Le Café at Puducherry Beach, Sea Gulls Bar and Restaurants, Transactions at Chunnambar Boat House, ticket purchases at historical sites etc. in addition to payments for PTDC Tourist cabs, Prepaid Taxi services at Puducherry airport, online booking of tickets among other services.
Commenting on the launch, Ritesh Pai, Chief Digital Officer at YES BANK, said, “We are pleased to partner with Puducherry Tourism Development Corporation to augment delivery of retail services and fast-track merchant payments through digital payment solutions and offer enhanced convenience of financial transactions to citizens of Puduchchery Smart City. With this partnership, we re-affirm our commitment to the Government’s initiative of propelling digital payments in India.”
Commenting on this major financial services digitization project, V Narayanasamy, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Puducherry, said, “PONDICHERRY – the perfect mélange of French culture attracts tourists within and outside our country. My government has taken lot of initiatives and making this beautiful and peaceful Union Territory, a perfect place for week long tourist destination. The introduction of prepaid card for cashless transaction by the PTDC with partnership of YES BANK will be a first step for cashless transaction to every citizen of Puducherry and the Tourist visiting Puducherry. I wish YES Bank to be a sustainable vehicle for this digital payments and spread this activity to all corners of this SMART CITY along with Puducherry Tourism Development Corporation and allied sectors”.
Commenting on the launch MNR BALAN, MLA, Chairman, Puducherry Tourism Development Corporation said, “We, PTDC being a company incorporated under the Companies Act 1956, have taken all steps for its sustainable management. Hassle free transaction and fearless travel is the basic requirement to the tourists and require safe destinations for their pleasant stay, Peaceful Puducherry is the best choice for them and this RUPAY prepaid card is a boon to them and can avail the best service from us and our co-partner, YES BANK on whom we rely upon this project. The corporation is keen on spreading this net to all sectors in Puducherry, to all citizens also for a safe cashless transaction.
Commenting on the launch D R MURUGESAN, Managing Director, Puducherry Tourism Development Corporation said, “Puducherry Tourism Corporation is now towards target oriented, taking all efforts to give better service in the Hospitality industry to the visiting tourists. The corporation has set online accounting system in its sea side Le Café unit, where a lot of foreign tourists are coming for their pleasure. All its units are provided with POS machines and our transaction is cashless to the extent of 75%.”
By way of RUPAY PREPAID card, Puducherry tourism will achieve 100% cashless transaction. It is possible only with committed partners, for which we selected YES BANK who all along work for Puducherry Tourism and Puducherry Smart City Project. PONDICHERRY – a French corner of India will be the first in INDIA to introduce RUPAY CARD in the Tourism Industry. All this could be possible by us only because of our Chairman MNR BALAN, MLA who’s Stewardship has taken this Corporation to A Transparent, Accountable, Honest administration. But for our Chairman’s initiatives such achievements would not have been experienced in this corporation. A cashless Fearless transaction is available in Puducherry Tourism Development Corporation.”
Commenting on the development, A Anbarasu, Development Commissioner, Puducherry, said, “The Tourism industry, owing to its diverse nature, has dabbled with various new-age innovations. The Puducherry Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) has taken a lead in this direction, to bring its tourism activities under the ambit of cashless transactions through Point-of-Sale (POS) machines and with the association of ‘YES BANK Ru-Pay’ Prepaid cards in Puducherry. These initiatives of PTDC will enable the visiting tourists to have a seamless experience as they ‘give-time-a-break’ in Puducherry. Now tourists can come cashless and enjoy their Holiday on cards.”
The co-branded ‘RuPay’ prepaid Card to be issued soon to citizens through YES Bank . It will be used for making payments at PTDC retail outlets & government facilities at Puduchchery along with provision of mobile wallet for cashless electronic transfer and for merchant payments, which will be introduced in phase two of the programme. The aim of a cashless Puduchchery Smart City is to use a single payment instrument for all city wide services presenting not only speed of service and transparency but also facilitating integration of mobility of payment systems across the city with other services. addition to grocery, utility payments, fees, medical expenses and entertainment. PTDC shall be able to account for all the digital transactions in real time basis, thereby, directly contributing to increased tax revenue for the Union territory.
In phase one, YES BANK and PTDC plan to issue 50,000 cards and scale it up further basis demand and use case analysis.
In order to make the city truly cashless, YES BANK is also launching a unique mobile app for retail merchants that allows for payments to be made by the way of the registered mobile number of the resident, such that the merchants can now initiate a transaction for the card user through his mobile app and the transaction gets processed by the way of an OTP sent to the card user on his registered mobile number. This app will be made available for Android users through the app store once the cards are made available at the retail & government facilities.
Through this project, YES BANK aims to bring in mobility to the fore front and help Puduchchery Smart City take a giant leap towards digitizing the payments within the city since all retail payments can now be channeled through this medium for the residents as well as tourists who visit the city.