Karnataka government to implement 'e-RUPI' for cashless education scholarship fee payment

The Karnataka government's e-Governance department has partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and State Bank of India (SBI) for enabling and implementing 'e-RUPI', a cashless and contactless payment solution to students under its scholarship programme.

e-RUPI will be used to ensure a leak-proof delivery of education fees of eligible students by paying digitally to the college or institute by the Karnataka government.

The Karnataka government 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 fees payment, NCPI said in a release.

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, and this process will remove the requirement of any physical token delivery for the students to avail of the scholarship, it 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," Additional Chief Secretary, DPAR (e-governance) Rajiv Chawla said.

The Karnataka government has on-boarded around 176 schemes of 35 departments of the state government on the Direct Benefit Transfer Platform.

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, the release said.

"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," NPCI Chief of Products Kunal Kalawatia said.

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