The State Government of Odisha has approved the Common Payment Card Sysytem (CPCS), a citizen centric module under Bhubaneswar Smart City programme, to enable one smart card for multiple services.
Leading private bank of the country, ICICI Bank has been selected as the implementing agency to execute it through Public Private Partnership (PPP) model by the Empowered Committee on Infrastructure (ECI) headed by Chief Secretary of Odisha. ICICI Bank, as the implementing agency, will be making an investment of approximately Rs 20 crore for the city wide implementation of the system.
The Common Payment Card System (CPCS) is one of the modules forming part of the pan-city smart solutions in the Smart City proposal of Bhubaneswar. Under this module, it is proposed to implement an interoperable and integrated electronic payment ecosystem for citizens, visitors and businesses in the city by making common smart card and mobile wallet based payment system accessible to the users on 24X7 basis. It will enable access to single electronic payment instrument to all strata’s of society and from every corner of the city.
This system will also facilitate all citizen service payments across the city including bus and para-transit payments, parking payments, municipal service payments, utility payments, etc. through an open-loop based fare card and mobile applications apart from other payment modes approved by Reserve Bank of India. As part of the project, the bank will design and make available at least five lakh smart cards under this system.
The solution has been designed based on Rupay Specifications which shall be efficient and cost effective for the citizens and the merchants (government as well as private) availing the facility of Common Payment Card System.
“Common Payment Card Platform will aid integration of people, business and government on single platform in the city of Bhubaneswar.” said Dr. Krishan Kumar, Managing Director of Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited and Commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.
Earlier in July, three banks namely, AXIS Bank, ICICI Bank and YES Bank participated in the bidding project of CPCS. After technical evaluation, having found all the three banks to be technically qualified as per the terms and conditions of tender, the quotes towards the transaction charges received from ICICI Bank, YES Bank and AXIS Bank were 1.45%, 1.6% and 9.0%, respectively. ICICI Bank having quoted the lowest bid and found responsive as per other terms and conditions was approved as the successful bidder by ECI.
The implementation of the system is estimated to complete within a period of seven to eight months and also includes an operation and maintenance period of seven years. It is expected that the Common Payment Card will be launched within a period of four to five months in the month of January, 2018.
