Bhimunipatnam to be first digital mandal in district

Visakhapatnam: The process of implementing cashless transactions to make Bhimunipatnam, the first digital mandal in the district, began recently with the guidelines of Collector Praveen Kumar in association with the IDFC Bank using Aadhaar number and thumb impression without the need of either debit or credit cards.

The customers can purchase with their bank credit balances using Aadhaar number and thumb impression. If the process goes successfully in the mandal which lies in the Assembly segment being represented by HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, it could be extended to other mandals.

The traders could easily open zero balance current accounts with the IDFC Bank by submitting a copy of Aadhaar card and thumb impression.

The banker will then install the IDFC app in the 4G smart phone of the customers and if the businessman has no smart phone, he would get a loan of Rs 8,000 by the assistant project managers of Velugu wing.

Already, the bank representatives imparted training to some of the traders in Chepaluppada, Nidigattu, Kapuluppada, Chippada, T Nagarapalem and Amanam villages in the mandal.

The mode of Aadhaar-based cashless transactions already began in some villages recently. The mandal has 21 panchayats with 110 villages and a population of 60,492 as per 2011 census of whom more than 50 per cent of people have bank accounts.

Bhimili mandal development officer K Hariprasada Rao disclosed that they have decided to make the mandal as the first digital mandal in the district and encouraging all the businessmen here to open accounts with the IDFC.

Already, three shop owners began doing Aadhaar-based cashless transactions. IDFC Bank district coordinator Allu Venkata Sridhar said they will be opening new bank branches in each district in the state adding that the FP shop dealers of Visakha and Viziangaram have opened their accounts in the IDFC Bank.

The system works for those having accounts with the IDFC Bank and having smart phones, he added.