NFC reaches the hard to reach

Using an ATM card and checking an account balance online may not be that unordinary to people online reading this, but for those people who live in small rural town and earn small amounts of money rarely ever access a bank account. But six months ago, the Andhra Pradesh government decided to experiment with their technology-outreach program and is starting to change all of this using Near Field Communications.

This past summer, officials sent in cell phones and a bunch of smart cards to rural "camps." The government hopes to touch 35 lakh people across the state under the project. Everyone entitled to the state pension will be the first recipient of the technology's benefits. "It's the first time that such a high-end technology is being used at the grassroots," claim its creators—Mumbai-based A Little World Pvt Ltd.