On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) dubbed as One Nation One Card. The indigenously-developed card will enable users to pay for multiple kinds of charges including transport, metro services, toll tax, parking charges, retail shopping as well as to withdraw money across the country. In short, it is a one-stop card for multiple utilities. PM Modi who was in Ahmedabad to inaugurate the city's new metro train service, launched the NCMC at the same event.

"This card runs on RuPay card and it will eliminate all your travel related problems. Many a times, we do not have change to pay in cash while travelling in metro, bus or train, or for toll and parking. To overcome this issue, an automatic fare collection system was introduced," PM Modi said, further adding, "Since systems were made by different players, a card issued in one city did not work in another city. Thus, we asked various ministries, departments and even banks to resolve this issue."

The Prime Minister said that in other words, they have merged the RuPay card with the mobility card. "Now, our dream of 'One Nation One Card' has been realised. People can also withdraw money using this Common Mobility Card. This RuPay card can be used for travelling in metros in any part of the country. In simple terms, we have merged the RuPay card with the mobility card," he said.

Here is how the dream of 'One Nation, One Card' was fulfilled today, furthering 'Ease of Living' for several citizens. pic.twitter.com/Aw5AV3pQvQ - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 4, 2019

PM Modi also said that such a technology was only present in a select few countries and that India too is a part of that club now. Also with the Make in India card, the country no longer has to depend on foreign technology.

Meanwhile, an official release said that NCMC cards are bank-issued cards on debit/credit/pre-paid card product platform. A customer could use this single card for making payments across all segments including metro, bus, suburban railways, toll, parking, smart city and retail shopping. "The stored value on card supports offline transaction across all travel needs with minimal financial risk to involved stake-holders. The service area feature of this card supports operator specific applications e.g. monthly passes, season tickets etc," it said.

The release also mentioned that the major challenge with the Automatic Fare Collection System (AFC) implementation in the country was the lack of an indigenous solution provider. "Till now, AFC systems deployed at various Metros are from foreign players. In order to avoid the vendor lock-in and create an inter-operable system, there was a need to develop indigenous standards and AFC system under Make in India initiative," the release stated.

(With PTI inputs)

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