Thrissur Will Soon Become the 1st Complete Digital District

By March this year, Kerala’s Thrissur will become the first district to digitalise all economic transactions, as part of Reserve Bank of India’s Digital India Programme. Much of this achievement can be attributed to the programmes that were implemented by the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE). 

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Here’s what will happen when Thrissur moves from paper currency to digitalization.

• Transactions in Government institutions will be digital.
• Card-swiping machines will replace the manual collection of money at government and private institutions
• Welfare schemes, assistance, and implementation will move online
• Citizens, especially seniors, will be given training in UPI-based payment methods
• The public will have the opportunity to start zero-balance bank accounts
• In two months time, people who hold Jan Dhan accounts will be given RuPay cards
• All current account holders will have net banking and mobile banking coverage opportunities for transactions

How do they plan on doing this?

A vast majority of people in Thrissur are not used to digital transactions, owing to the risk of fraudulent activity. But ever since COVID-19 struck, people were forced to make use of digital, faceless transactions to avoid the risk of infection. That said, awareness generation will be of primary importance to make sure that this programme is successful.

Canara Bank has taken the prime responsibility to implement the digital programme in Thrissur, with the guidance of a committee led by the District Collector and the Manager of the district lead bank. They will be responsible for monitoring the progress of the programme. Of course, a team has been set up to conduct surveys during the initial months of the implementation to understand the change in behaviour and progress on a personal and professional front in people’s lives.

The programme will be initially implemented at the Collectorate itself, where the first step of digitalisation will be practised in the canteens located within the premises.

Economic literacy counsellors from each block will spearhead awareness programmes to educate people about the programme, including classes on digitalisation of banking transaction.