Ebix Tech secures ₹140 crore contract from Maharashtra Transport Corp

Ebix Technologies, Indian subsidiary of Eraaya Lifespaces, on Tuesday announced securing a ₹140 crore contract from Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation for the first state-wide rollout of the National Common Mobility Card for concessionaires in India.

Once fully operational, the project is expected to clock transactional volumes to the tune of ₹2,000 crore annually, boosting the entity's digital transaction ecosystem and passenger convenience, Ebix Technologies Limited, earlier known as EbixCash, said in a statement.

In November 2022, the company was awarded a contract to supply and maintain 38,622 Android-based Electronic Ticketing Machines (ETMs) integrated with an online reservation system.

This mandate has successfully facilitated the issuance of approximately 220 crore passenger tickets in the past two years, Ebix Technologies said, adding that this network spans MSRTC's fleet of over 16,000 buses, serving more than 13 crore passengers monthly across urban and rural Maharashtra.

The newly-awarded National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) programme expands this partnership with a focus on smart and interoperable payments that will revolutionise how millions travel daily, it said.

Spearheaded by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the initiative enables passengers to use a single smartcard across multiple transport modes, creating a truly integrated mobility ecosystem, Ebix said.

"With the NCMC rollout, we are not just introducing another payment method. We are fundamentally reimagining how citizens experience everyday travel across Maharashtra," a company spokesperson said.

The project includes mandatory adoption of the NCMC smartcard for all concessional passengers and pass holders on MSRTC buses, with optional availability for regular passengers, a minimum business assurance of 70 lakh NCMC cards to be sold in the first year alone, scaling to over 2 crore cards issued statewide through a network of 3,000 dedicated retail outlets established by Ebix Technologies, among others.