Kochi: The Kerala State Financial Enterprise’s (KSFE) ambitious ‘Pravasi Chitty’ scheme catering to NRI customers, which aims at mobilising Rs 10,000 crore to finance projects under the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), has encountered delay of up to six months, vis-a-vis the original schedule, due to technical issues.
Though the KSFE has launched a dedicated website and mobile application for online transactions, both these subscription and payment gateways are not fully operational yet.
The scheme, originally planned to launch in October 2017, would do away with canvassing and door collection by making the entire subscription and transaction processes online.
Facilities for remitting installments and online participation in chitty auctions too would be available for the customers.
The software and the mobile application are being developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), and the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) respectively.
The target for Pravasi Chitty is Rs 24,000 crore. A sum of Rs 10,000 crore will be routed to the KIIFB in the form of bonds in order to invest it in various infrastructure development projects.
Many of the road renovation projects and public works that were launched expecting funds from the KIIFB are in limbo now. The delay in launching the Pravasi Chitty has added to the fund crunch.
However, the new scheme has evoked good response from the NRKs so far. Since almost all expatriates use net-enabled phones, it would not be an issue for them to enrol, transact, and bid in auctions online.
The total chitty amount or sala (gross subscription to be remitted per month multiplied by the number of installments) of Pravasi Chitty will be up to Rs 10 lakh and the duration will be 36 months.