The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has given an in-principle approval for the State Bank of India’s proposal for using its credit or debit cards by commuters in Metro Rail stations.
The SBI has approached the CMRL sometime ago with the plan, and is currently working out the technicalities, according to its officials.
“We have given the in-principle approval for the proposal. Also, we are holding discussions to work out the revenue arrangement between the two organisations,” an official of the CMRL said.
The SBI card may be in addition to the smart card developed by the CMRL which could be used by commuters in MTC buses, MRTS, suburban rail, besides shopping malls and super markets, he added.
The CMRL had indicated in a tender that the card to be issued by the bank should have features of the smart card and also the ‘Magnetic Strip/EMV (Euro pay Mastercard Visa) functionality’ required for banking operations.
The facility would allow customers to use just a single card in various modes of public transport. The card would have logos of the SBI bank and the CMRL, and the top-up facilities for the card would be available in stations.
In Bangalore soonThe SBI is to launch shortly its ‘SBI Debit-cum-Transit Card’ facility in Bangalore Metro Rail.
