Essar has announced a remarkable milestone achieved by its Nand Niketan Township that became the India's first private sector township to go cashless with the help of The Mobile Wallet (TMW), a Mumbai-based financial technology company. The Wallet is powered by RBL Bank Ltd. TMW single-handedly worked on this project and successfully converted Essar’s Nand Niketan Township into a cashless township.
The pilot project involved the adoption of TMW’s twin offering—the smartphone-based TMW app and the Mastercard-enabled TMW and RBL Bank co-branded Prepaid Card, which has almost universal acceptance at all outlets and billers that accept Mastercard in India.
While the TMW app has had more than 12,000 downloads, over 8,000 TMW-RBL Bank Prepaid cards have been issued to a wide range of users in Surat, including Essar employees and their families residing in the Hazira Township, merchants and shop owners operating within its precincts, as well as contract labourers working in various Essar facilities. An average of Rs 2 lakh worth of digital transactions are being executed every day.
More than 1,000 daily transactions, including mobile recharges, payments made for groceries and daily needs, and settling of restaurant bills, are being recorded daily using the TMW wallet app. In addition to this, users are also making other forms of digital payments—be it through the TMW-RBL Bank Prepaid Card, other debit/credit cards or other e-wallet apps. All of the 40-odd merchants at the Township accept payments made through the TMW app and Prepaid Card.
Says Rishi Kalantri, Head–Cashless Townships, TMW: “We started the pilot project at Hazira in December 2016—almost immediately after the PM launched the demonetisation drive and gave his clarion call for a cash-free India. In the initial phase, we conducted a series of workshops for various user groups, with an eye on addressing their unique requirements. This helped in easing the adoption process and made the transition to a cashless ecosystem sustainable.”
“All Essar employees now get a nominal part of their salary as a credit into their TMW wallets. The collector’s office in Surat has personally appreciated our efforts in making digital payments a way of life in the Township,” says Ralph Sunil, VP-Administration & CSR, Essar Steel.
