State Bank of India, the country’s leading public sector bank, has partnered with FSS (Financial Software and Systems), a leading global digital payment and financial technology company, to implement first of its kind One Nation One Card program and accelerate growth of digital payments at mass-scale.
Traditionally, each transit provider has installed proprietary card acceptance solution, (e.g. each public transit operator in the country deployed its own solution). In a rapidly urbanizing economy, the fragmentation has resulted in limited adoption of cashless solutions. The National Common Mobility Card program assures interoperability, as pan-India, customers can pay for transit services and daily purchases using a single card.
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FSS through its prepaid digital solution has enabled the bank in issuance of Tap and Pay (contact and contactless) cards. The Common Mobility card functions as a digital prepaid account for multi-modal transit coupled with a standard debit card for account-based transactions at ATM, POS and e-commerce channels. Commuters no longer need to pay cash at toll stations and ticket kiosks or lock monies across multiple transit cards. Rather cardholders can load monies, into the store value account and access fare funds by tapping their card on the terminal reader, improving transacting ease and convenience.
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Speaking on the occasion, Suresh Rajagopalan, President, Retail Payments, FSS stated; “FSS is a market leader in card issuance in India, with a 70% market share in volume terms. We are excited to build on our leadership position and bring innovative digital payments experiences to consumers through our partnership with the State Bank of India. The One Nation, One Card program, is a significant step in realizing the Digital India vision by bringing a critical mass of micro-transactions into the digital fold.”
The underlying card issuance platform powering the One Nation One Card program manages card issuance, transaction clearing and settlement. The functionality spans the complete gamut of issuing capabilities including registration, verification, card issuance, top-up of funds into prepaid wallet, card lifecycle management, as well as reconciliation and reporting to help banks efficiently manage their card portfolios. The card issuance platform brings significant efficiencies, as it mitigates operational overheads associated with issuance and support of multiple cards.
The digital prepaid solution supports operator specific applications e.g. monthly passes and season tickets. Card issuers can load, delete and amend applications on the card, enabling issuers to tailor cards at the time of issuance as well as load supplementary applications, later.
The solution supports transaction authorization, clearing and settlement functions for participant entities. Transit merchants where “speed at checkout” is imperative can authorize transactions offline instantly. Commuters merely must tap their cards at the turnstile and the transaction is completely instantly allowing the transaction to be settled later. The digital prepaid solution supports multiple fund sources including bank accounts, cash deposits at authorized pints of presence, and card to wallet transfers, providing customers increased convenience to load accounts. Customers can also withdraw cash at designated toll points and outlets. The system is PCIDSS 3.2 compliant and supports a sophisticated security module configured to the bank’s security guidelines.
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