The Government of Haryana has felicitated Vodafone for M-Pesa’s contribution to the ‘Thari Pension Thare Pass’ project. The project deals with the Direct Benefit Transfer of Social Security Pension to pensioners the state. Under the state government's pension scheme, M-Pesa has offered a safe and secure method to transfer funds to over 11,000 beneficiaries each month. The service was initially available for five villages in the Karnal and Mahendragarh districts, but is now in over 72 villages in the state.
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Vodafone India, one of India’s leading telecommunication service providers, was lauded and acknowledged by the Government of Haryana for setting up a seamless and successful network of M-Pesa services across the state covering 72 villages during an award ceremony held at the Republic Day celebrations in Gurgaon. Vipin Chopra, Senior Manager & M-Pesa head for Haryana received the award on behalf of Vodafone M-Pesa Haryana team from Shri Manohar Lal, Chief Minister of Haryana for outstanding contribution to the ‘Thari Pension Thari Pass’ project of Direct Benefit Transfer of Social Security Pension.
Under the Government of Haryana’s pension scheme, Vodafone India’s M-Pesa has partnered for financial disbursements to pensioners in the state, offering a safe and secure mechanism to transfer funds to over 11,000 beneficiaries each month. Started initially for 5 villages in Karnal and Mahendragarh districts, the service is now available to over 72 villages in the state, remitting more than 1.5 crore rupees in social security pensions to the beneficiaries.
Expressing his gratitude on the recognition lauded by the Government on the occasion of country’s 67th Republic Day, for the successful integration of the social security pension disbursement services in Haryana, Mohit Narru, Business Head – Haryana, Vodafone India said, “This is indeed a historic moment for all at Vodafone. Vodafone M-Pesa is proud to be a part of the Government of Haryana’s financial inclusion program for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of Social security pension under the ‘Thari Pension Thari Paas’ project. We have a presence of 3 thousand M-Pesa agents across Haryana, especially across small towns and villages, It has always been our constant endeavor to deliver and bring world class service experiences to the citizens of Haryana and we are overwhelmed by the response and support the Government and customers have bestowed on us helping us add to the ease and convenience of pensioners in unbanked areas.”
With the induction of Vodafone M-Pesa, beneficiaries with any active mobile number can directly receive payment of the pension. They get intimated via SMS, mentioning the amount of the pension, the withdrawal code and the withdrawal procedure. They can then withdraw the amount by simply authorizing the transaction with the withdrawal code at a nearby Vodafone M-Pesa retail outlet.
Earlier government used to disburse the pension via Sarpanch of village. He used to share the list of all beneficiaries in his village with the Department of Social Justice. Accordingly, the total amount for all these beneficiaries used to get transferred in to Sarpanch’s account and then was disbursed to concerned beneficiaries. The induction of M-Pesa has helped bridge this gap and ensured that the pension is transferred Directly-to-Beneficiaries (DTB) thereby removing any scope of discrepancy in the entire process. The felicitation by the Government of Haryana was to recognize the ease M-Pesa has brought to the life of beneficiaries proving to be a more convenient and authentic mode of transferring pension.
Vodafone M-Pesa is an innovative, safe and secure mobile wallet which enables complete suite of services like money transfer, bill payments, and recharge on the move from the mobile. It caters to all segments of the society, from the unbanked to the under banked and to the net-savvy and evolved customers. Today, with a pan-India distribution of over 100,000 agents and more than 4.5 million customers,Vodafone M-Pesa is the largest banking correspondent in the country and is playing a vital role in enabling financial inclusion and m-commerce.