18 Mar 2024
The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) can now be issued with a limit of up to up to ₹3,000 with no KYC.
The Reserve Bank of India relaxed KYC norms for the mobility cards. NCMCs are debit, credit and prepaid cards issued by over 25 partner banks and RuPay. These open-loop cards allow commuters to pay for transport systems like metros, road toll and parking plazas, buses, suburban railways, and fuel stations across India.
Users can use an NCMC to withdraw money and make online retail payments. It permits offline payments for low-value transactions. The Near Field Communication (NFC) technology facilitates tap-and-go payments.
Due to stringent KYC norms, the card saw limited usage, with only 200 million people getting the NCMCs since its launch on March 4th, 2019. The government tried replicating London’s Oyster card or Hong Kong’s Octopus Cards through the ‘One Nation, One Card’ initiative. However, the scattered transportation system and the RBI ban on Paytm Payments Bank, one of the key players issuing NCMCs, made implementing it challenging.