State Bank of India (SBI) in a press release on Monday announced the launch of SBI’s NAV-eCash card on INS Vikramaditya, the largest naval aircraft carrier of India. The card will remove all difficulties faced by personnel onboard while handling physical cash during the ship’s deployment at high seas. The infrastructure at naval ships makes traditional payment solutions, difficult to work with, especially on high seas where there is no connectivity.
The card’s idea was nurtured by both SBI and navy officials and would take care of the requirements of the navy, providing seamless onboard experience. The new journey envisioned for the card is set to change the payment ecosystem, while the ship is sailing with no dependency on utilisation of any form of cash to avail any of the service on board.
The release said that the new NAV-eCash card will facilitate both online and offline transactions and is powered with dual-chip technology.
Other naval ships and various defense establishments would also have these facilities to create a secured, convenient and sustainable payment ecosystem, C S Setty, Managing Director (retail and digital banking), SBI, said on board the ship.
From a digital payment solutions perspective, the launch comes as an important milestone and the public sector lender’s commitment towards government’s vision of Digital India and a conscious efforts towards a cashless economy.