Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, launched in Nagpur a cashless/less cash township model, developed by Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (GNFC), across 81 townships in 12 States.

These townships will deliver 2.5 lakh cashless transactions per day, translating into 9 crore cashless transactions in a year. GNFC’s township at Bharuch in Gujarat became India’s first cent per cent cashless township after demonetisation.

The 81 townships included 56 in Gujarat and 25 in other States that have chosen to follow the cashless or less cash model. GNFC facilitated the model across these States under the auspices of National Institution for Transforming India Aayog, said Rajiv Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, GNFC, here.

National Institution for Transforming India Aayog had appreciated GNFC’s initiative and model of cashless townships and advised the Central ministries and CMDs of 300-plus central PSUs for adopting this model quickly.

The 81 townships include those of central public sector companies such as ONGC, Indian Oil, NTPC, SAIL, BHEL, NMDC, CRPF, BSF and Police Lines and private sector townships like Reliance, Essar, Adani, Birla Aditya, Welspun spread across 12 States, including Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Chhatisgarh.

“Trends that have emerged from PwC’s study on Impact Assessment of GNFC’s cashless initiative clearly show that going cashless is a step in the right direction for our country due to the significant socio-economic benefits. This initiative offers financial inclusion, cashlessness as a lifestyle, better parental control, women’s empowerment and social upliftment using technology,” said Gupta.

As per the PwC study of GNFC’s cashless initiatives, for over 96 per cent of farmers, cashless resulted in cost savings arising from fewer trips to fertiliser shops and discounts on cashless transactions. Electronic transactions resulted in better money management for over 90 per cent farmers.

It further found that 92.3 per cent of households believed there was a significant reduction in the use of cash resulting in more convenience when transacting for daily activities.

Going cashless had become an effective tool for parents to have a better control over their children’s expenses. Around 98 per cent of households said they saved time on cashless transactions.

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