Karnataka government initiates cashless, contactless delivery of students' scholarship

Bengaluru: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), State Bank of India (SBI), and Department of e-Governance, government of Karnataka have partnered to implement e-RUPI, a cashless and contactless payment solution of scholarship to students.

e-RUPI will be used to ensure a leak-proof delivery of education fees to eligible students by paying digitally to the college or institute by State government. It will get e-vouchers delivered to the mobiles of eligible students. The voucher code can be received on the feature phone also. The students will be able to redeem e-RUPI at the identified colleges or institutes for the intended purpose of fee payment.

For redeeming e-RUPI, the identified institutes will scan the QR code or SMS string displayed by the students using an Application or POS machine. This process will remove the requirement of any physical token delivery for the students to avail themselves of scholarship.

Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) (e-governance), Rajiv Chawla said, "e-RUPI is indeed a very powerful tool for governments to use as it allows direct transfer of the benefits to the targeted beneficiary, with safety and security. The instrument ensures that the beneficiary gets the benefit as per the guidelines of the scheme. Under this initiative, each transaction is mapped with the beneficiary and the institution ensuring that the e-Voucher can be redeemed by the college where the student has enrolled."

Managing Director, Retail and Digital Banking, State Bank of India, Challa Sreenivasulu Setty said, "The e-RUPI (UPI Prepaid Voucher) was launched on 2 August 2021 by Prime Minister of India for COVID-19 vaccination as the first use case. Owing to its hassle-free usage coupled with its secured and cashless features, government has envisaged to extend the use of e-RUPI to other use cases like DBT, scholarships, kerosene oil distribution, subsidized distribution of food grains, donations, grocery. SBI is one of the leading banks in the implementation of e-RUPI for other use cases by providing end-to-end solution to the government of Karnataka for distribution of scholarships to the students for their studies."

Kunal Kalawatia, Chief of Products, NPCI said, "We are delighted to offer our e-RUPI solution to the government of Karnataka for empowering students with hassle-free scholarships. At NPCI, we are continuously working on harnessing India's technological and digital prowess by constantly developing path-breaking digital products and services. We believe e-RUPI is a revolutionary initiative in the direction of ensuring a convenient and leak-proof delivery of schemes. This is a win-win for both students and colleges. While students receive the voucher, they can redeem it only for payment of fees to colleges/Institutes."

Karnataka government has on-boarded around 176 schemes of 35 departments of the State government on the Direct Benefit Transfer Platform. Apart from the scholarship scheme, other major schemes which have been on-boarded are Minimum Price Support schemes, PM-Kisan State Scheme, CM-Relief Fund, Housing Schemes, and Milk Incentive scheme. Following the successful implementation of this pilot project, the state is examining the use of e-RUPI Voucher in other schemes such as Seed distribution, Fertiliser distribution, Micro Irrigation schemes, Issue of laptops to Students, and Imparting skilled training.