Fair price shops may soon become one-stop solution for e-services

Fair price shops may soon become one-stop solution for e-services

Fair price shops could soon provide people a “one-stop solution” for  e-services. Going by the plan of the authorities, the shops will offer services such as submission of applications for passports, payment of utility bills, carrying out corrections or updating Aadhaar data and much more. 

“Initially, our focus will be on fair price shops in rural areas,” says an official of the Cooperation Department, adding that land availability is a critical factor to be taken into account before using the infrastructure of any fair price shop.  

On an experimental basis, a pilot project has been undertaken in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. In 6 months, the entire plan will be rolled out. 

The department is holding negotiations broadly with three players - India Post Payments Bank, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and a host of private service providers.  There is one aspect to be taken into account, while considering the possibility of working together with the postal system.  According to the Annual Report of the Postal department for 2021-22, the State had 11,867 post offices, of which 10,259 were in rural areas. This complements the presence of about 26,000 FPS in the villages, as a result of which the total strength of 12,525 village panchayats can be covered without much effort.  However, the official hastens to add that the talks are on and no decision has been taken as yet. 

The difference between the conventional Common Service Centres (CSC) of the State government and the proposed CSCs is that unlike in the former where individual websites or portals have to be accessed for the payment of utilities’ bills,  the latter will make use of a common or unified portal so that waiting time goes down and more transactions can be carried out.

Asked whether the proposed services will not duplicate the CSC programme, the official replies that even now, there are 4,480 CSCs being operated by the cooperative institutions. During 2022-23, the centres handled about 48.15 lakh transactions, netting an income of ₹15.9 crore. The official emphasises that “wherever necessary and feasible,” the FPS will provide the proposed services, which will be determined by a need-based analysis. Also, “this will be a gap-filling exercise,” the official adds.

Though the Union government has been pushing the idea of “transforming fair price shops” into hubs for the provision of services and  non-controlled products in addition to performing the core functions, it is not providing any financial assistance directly for the purpose. However, to turn Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Societies (PACCS) into multi service centres, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is providing loans at 4% interest. In respect of farm-related projects, interest subvention of 3% is extended under the Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF) of the Central government. But, running CSCs alone will not fall under this category.