SBI Colony Near Mumbai Goes Completely Cashless

Mumbai: As scores of people across the country continue queuing up outside banks and ATMs to withdraw money, some have been successful in saving themselves the hassle.

Forty days after the government's announcement banning 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, the SBI colony in Mumbai's neighbouring Nerul, where employees of the country's largest bank State Bank of India live, has gone completely cashless.

Residents and vendors who carry out business in the colony, have only been doing cashless transactions. Be it transactions for laundry, milkman or even vegetable vendors, all 2,600 residents living inside the colony have been using e-wallets to carry out their transactions.

"When the SBI introduced the 'Buddy App', we started telling our local vendors to download it and use it. With the help of other colony members, we educated these vendors how to use this app and now our colony has become the first ever cashless colony," said Mrityunjay Mahapatra, a bank official.

Since the government scrapped 500 and 1,000-rupee notes, the State Bank of India has seen a surge in its digital transactions.

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The average number of transactions carried out through an SBI debit card has increased to 35 lakh daily as compared to 22 lakh recorded before demonetisation.

"Earlier it was always so difficult to give change to all the households whose clothes I used to wash but now since I accept payments through the e-wallet, my income is stable as people pay right then and there," said Binda Prasad Nirmal who runs a laundry service for residents of the SBI colony.

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After the success at the Nerul colony, SBI now plans to set its focus on other residential colonies across Maharashtra.