Bengaluru: Karnataka has become the first State in the country to adopt a cashless and contactless payment solution, thereby easing the process of paying education fees digitally to students of schools and colleges.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), State Bank of India (SBI) and Department of e-Governance, Government of Karnataka, have partnered 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 fee of eligible students by paying digitally to the college or institute by the Government.

The Government will get e-vouchers delivered on the mobile phones of eligible students. The voucher code can be received on feature phone as well. 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 app or POS machine. The process will remove the requirement of any physical token delivery for the students to avail of the scholarship.

The Government has onboard around 176 Schemes of 35 Departments under it on the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) 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, issuing of laptops to students and imparting skilled training.