Going cashless: Sapthagiri Bank gears up for awareness drive on RuPay cards

Sapthagiri Grameena Bank Chief Manager B. Nageswara Rao (right) along with NPCI interns speaking to rural customers about cashless transactions in Chittoor on Friday.

CHITTOOR: The Sapthagiri Grameena Bank (SGB), the Indian Bank-sponsored regional rural bank with 200 branches in Krishna and Chittoor districts, has stepped up efforts to distribute RuPay cards to all its 12 lakh customers in a phased manner to usher in cashless transactions.

At a time when demonetisation has led to chaos among all sections of people, who are rushing to banks and ATMs for withdrawal of cash, the SGB officials appealed to rural customers not to panic but to utilise their RuPay cards for emergency transactions, besides using them in their day-to-day life.

Low usage

Speaking to

The Hindu , SGB chairman B. Suribabu said that of the 2 lakh RuPay cards issued to its customers, not even 20 per cent were being used. "There is some confusion among rural customers, particularly women, that by using RuPay cards their transactions might be under surveillance and that their PIN numbers would be known to others. By deploying our business correspondents and bank staff in all branches, we have intensified our appeals to our customers to use their RuPay cards extensively," he added.

The SGB chief manager at the head office in Chittoor, B. Nageswara Rao, said that the representatives and interns of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) had launched micro-level surveys and awareness camps in villages regarding the efficacy of the RuPay cards. The interns of the NPCI had been touring various places in Chittoor district to enlighten the SGB customers on the utility of the RuPay cards. "Awareness has to be generated among rural customers that the RuPay facilitates electronic payment at all Indian banks and financial institutions and competes with MasterCard and Visa in India. Rural customers can avoid frequent visits to banks for making their payments. We have already started issuing RuPay cards on their doorstep," the official said.