Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO), the world’s largest fertiliser cooperative, launched its co-branded debit card for farmers in association with the Bank of Baroda.
IFFCO and Bank of Baroda had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in February, 2017 to create the co-branded debit cards for farmers.
The card will assist the farmers in buying agri-inputs through a convenient cashless transaction mechanism, thus providing further boost to PM Narendra Modi’s Digital India programme.
As per the scheme, a bank account with Bank of Baroda would be opened after the farmer deposits Rs 100 and provides details of his Aadhaar card.
The farmer will then be issued a co-branded debit card which can be used to make agri-input purchases of up to Rs 2500 without making any interest payments for a month.
51 farmers from Meerut were distributed the IFFCO-BOB debit cards by RP Singh, Director (HR & Legal), IFFCO and P S Jayakumar, Managing Director, Bank of Baroda at a ceremony at IFFCO headquarters.
“Farmers can conveniently buy high-quality bio-fertilisers, water soluble fertilisers, agrochemicals, micro-nutrients, seeds and other agri-inputs through this card at the right cost,” said by RP Singh, Director (HR & Legal), IFFCO.
“The farmers of extending every possible assistance in helping them to understand the various cashless payment mechanisms,” said P S Jayakumar, Managing Director, Bank of Baroda.
Two lakh co-branded debit cards will be issued initially to the farmers in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Subsequently, more cards will be issued across rest of India. These co-branded debit cards will be used exclusively for the purchase of IFFCO products only.
