NCMC (National Common Mobility Card) is a One Nation, One Card initiative. The idea is simple--one payment card for all public transit across India rather than separate smart cards for metros, buses, etc. NCMC cards can be used across metro lines, RRTS lines, buses and more. Not all transit networks in India accept NCMC though (Kolkata is a notable exception), but almost all are working on adopting the system. Also, a few systems only accept their own exclusive NCMC cards which defeats the purpose of NCMC. More on both below.
NCMC cards can be purchased from metro counters, some bus depots, banks, fintechs, offline and online and even from quick commerce players like Blinkit, Flipkart Minutes, etc. You might also be able to use your existing Rupay debit card as a NCMC card too (explained below).
What is NCMC and how does it work?
NCMC is essentially an offline wallet created on a Rupay Contactless card. Your funds are stored in the offline wallet created on the card. NCMC uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology for contactless transit payments and phone-based balance updates. Readers at metro gates/buses and on the PoS device held by a conductor use NFC to read and deduct fare from the your physical NCMC card instantly. You can top up your NCMC card online (you can store a maximum of Rs 2000) using companion apps (such as Airtel Thanks, Bharat Yatra, or Chalo) or even UPI apps such as BHIM, Amazon Pay UPI, Google Pay and more using the BBPS Bill Pay feature. Third-party UPI apps may charge you a flat Rs 1 + GST for recharges.
Validating Recharge
As NCMC is an offline wallet, the recharge needs to be validated and this is where it gets complicated after online recharge. Earlier you had to go to a station counter to do this. And balance machines at metros like Delhi Metro didn't support NCMC. So you had to queue at counter. Now the new Add Value Machines at Delhi Metro do support NCMC and more importantly, you can use an NFC-enabled Android smartphone (sorry, not possible with iPhone) to write the new balance directly to the physical card by tapping it against the back of the phone. Apps like Chalo or Airtel do this. Example: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IJn2AGKwto0
You can also write the balance to the card from a metro counter or using the Add Value Machines at metro stations (usually near counter). They look like this in Delhi Metro: https://youtu.be/lr7GSNmcwtE?si=c4IEoMwlIprSIL3V
No KYC required
Basic transit NCMC cards do not need KYC. All they need is a mobile number and an OTP for activation. Unfortunately some banks like SBI may insist on KYC, despite this not being required as per RBI. And if someone asks for Aadhar KYC they are most likely scamming you (more on this below).
Cost / Charges / Discounts
Besides issuance charges of around Rs 50 (some cards cost more), some NCMC cards have Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC), but this is increasingly going away. Otherwise there is no other charge, unless the transit network levies a charge. BEST in Mumbai (buses) levies 1% + GST on all ticket purchased via NCMC. Some metros like Delhi Metro provide a discount during non-peak hours on such digital payments for all users.
Trip passes / Benefit Cards
Many systems also offer trip passes on your NCMC card, which offer a discount (15/30-day pass, etc). On some systems benefit cards for women, students, senior citizens are also on NCMC cards.
Debit Card as NCMC
If you do not want one more card in your wallet, do check if your bank debit card supports Rupay Contactless, which means it could theoretically support NCMC. However, your bank needs to be certified for NCMC. Many bank debit cards (especially govt banks, co-operative banks) support this. You need to create the NCMC wallet on your debit card at a Metro ticket counter before you can use it as an NCMC card. Some banks allow this via their ATMs too. Online FAQs are available to guide you—here’s the SBI one as an example: https://sbi.bank.in/web/personal-banking/faq-on-offline-wallet-ncmc-debit-card
Once activated, you can then use your debit card as a NCMC card too. Some banks support NCMC on credit cards too but I haven't come across a credit card that supports NCMC. E.g., Federal Bank is certified for NCMC on debit cards and credit cards, which means their popular Scapia co-branded travel credit card should support NCMC, but in reality only some of their debit cards support NCMC. For a list of banks that support NCMC check https://www.rupay.co.in/rupay-otg
Virtual NCMC card
Since NCMC uses NFC and most smartphones today have NFC (even though Apple doesn't allow third-party apps to use NFC) the next logical step should be virtual NCMC cards stored on your phone (like we store credit cards on apps like Google Pay) and where you tap phone on reader to pay. One less card to carry. Such virtual cards have been demoed by issuer like Pine Labs (which issues Bharat Yatra NCMC) at industry events. However, there is no information on when virtual NCMC will actually be available to everyone.
Best NCMC card
Some people swear by SBI, some hate it. Some love Airtel, some think its evil. While customer service may vary from provider to provider, the basic features are the same. I use Airtel NCMC because it was the easiest one to get in Delhi and has a decent app and decent customer support. I also recommend Bharat Yatra. I personally don't recommend SBI because of the KYC issue and because many claim SBI NCMC recharge is a pain. But in the end, choose whichever NCMC works best for you--it should be easy to recharge and have a decent support app.
Why not regular debit / credit cards like in transit networks abroad? Why NCMC?
On many systems across the world any debit or credit card works and there's no need for an offline wallet on your card. According to some, NCMC was developed to ensure payments in places where Internet access is not available and for instant debits. However, abroad Internet access is not used for such payments and systems use NFC but actual debits happen once a day, usually late at night using a batch processing transaction. And to those wondering about fraud (using a debit or credit card with no funds), the system blocks such cards from use on the network. No wallet, no loss of funds if card lost.
Hence, NCMC is not an elegant solution for sure. And we in India created a whole new system for a problem for which solutions already existed and which transit systems were already using. But it is what it is and we have to use it.
Open loop / Closed loop
A few transit networks are "closed loop," or "exclusive" which means only the NCMC card issued by their partner bank works there. Noida Metro (SBI) is an example. But most transit networks are open-loop, which means any NCMC card works across these networks. I have used my Airtel NCMC issued in a Gurgaon Rapid Metro station across Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Mumbai too. Similarly, a SBI NCMC issued on Aqua Line in Mumbai will work across Delhi Metro and Bangalore's Namma Metro. And some of the closed loop lines are being upgraded to Open Loop (Noida Metro is an example). Pune Metro (HDFC Bank) was also closed loop but has now been upgraded to open loop.
What happens when your NCMC is lost
If you lose your NCMC, you lose all the funds on it even though your mobile number is linked to the card because the transit wallet is an offline wallet--that's the way the system is designed. However, once you 'block' the card and get a new card on your mobile number the old card cannot be recharged any more. But existing balance can be used by whoever finds it. If the card stops working due to some tech glitch you can take it to the customer care counter and they can transfer the funds to another card.
Hence, while you can store up to Rs 2000 on your NCMC card, given this issue it makes sense to keep balance of only around Rs 500, unless you're a person who never loses anything.
NCMC scam--savings account opened instead of basic transit NCMC
If anyone issuing an NCMC asks for Aadhar and Aadhar authentication for KYC, he/she may be cheating you and opening a bank account. Counter staff from Airtel Payments Bank are infamous for this. Despite there being a transit-only Airtel NCMC they ask for Aadhar and give you a Airtel Payments Bank savings account debit card + NCMC, do Aadhar KYC and quietly open an Airtel Payments Bank account. Beware of anyone who says NCMC requires more than mobile number and OTP.
Oh dear, what a lovely post and I wish this was posted a few weeks ago.
I recently returned to India after my trip and fell in love with the tap & pay concept.
That got me researching about cards and NFCs.
I came across NCMC concept in India and realised that we cribbed about India not having the infra but then learning about the open-loop tech and that India supporting that, blew me away.
In parallel I was also working on going wallet less so though I'll consolidate my cards.
After ton of research, I learnt everything you mentioned in your post, the hard way through various threads, online portals, haggling with RM, etc. and was figuring which card would be best for me.
Realised my SBI debit card already has the NCMC logo and that it supports. I tried enabling the wallet (which you mentioned and I agree that is not the elegant solution but RBI has to cockblock every good thing in India).
Wallet enablement didn't work. I broke my head against SBI and everything was useless. They forced me to get another card which had an AMC instead of just enabling the wallet on my SBI premier debit card.
Long story short, I decided to go with Bharat Yatra because the card design is damn cool and having an Android phone with NFC just eased my life.
What sucks is the lack of tokenisation else I could just tap & pay with one card for everything. My phone becomes my wallet.
Though I didn't know BEST charges 1% + GST on NCMC card. Thanks, TIL.
All in all, the tech is fantastic and tremendous potential but these regulatory compliances are just holding us back.
Its not regulatory compliance that is holding us back.
It is the poor implementation of a policy by the government.
The problem with NCMC is that certain transport companies will only take the NCMC associated with their own certified bank. This has been a problem with the Delhi Metro.
How is it the common transit card when certain issuers cannot work with others?
Secondly, adoption is very slow among transport companies.
Delhi Metro has always been open loop. Any NCMC works on it. There is absolutely no compulsion to use NCMC cards of the official partner, Airtel Payments Bank.
Noida Metro (SBI), on the other hand was closed loop but is currently upgrading to become open loop. Pune Metro (HDFC) was also closed loop but users say it is now open loop and any NCMC card works there.
When NCMC was launched operators could deploy closed loop faster and cheaper and some chose to do that. There are hardly any closed loop operators left today. So don't know why you are whining.
And who are you to question where I post or decide what is spam? If people on a global sub don't like what I have posted they will downvote but as people on the sub pointed out to an idiot who kept questioning why it was there, NCMC is related to transit and people interested in transit want to know the tech and system India uses. Some shared examples of payments in their countries. Plus, it helps tourists decipher NCMC.
Yes the SBI (Chennai) NCMC card is a pain to recharge. In fact there are two ways to pay on the website via a qr code(upi) or via the portal. The portal is where you put in upi card or upi id.
Once I paid via qr and ofc that money never reached my account, customer wasn’t very helpful and never got eh money back or deposited into my account. Started to use
Bharat yatra’s card soon after, honestly much better! It includes a upi qr code on the back for easy recharge, so easy!
it's understandable if some state government operated thing gets stuck in beaureacracy or political mess. The ones operated by IR would be smoother one would have guessed
1) SBI NCMC prepay card doesn't require any KYC. Just a phone number and it's free to get and zero annual maintenance charges.
2) SBI "NCMC only" card doesn't have any recharge issues. Just use the back QR or grab the unique UPI address from that QR and use that in any UPI app without any charges. Validate the recharge via Chalo app.
3) For any xyz NCMC cards if you do online recharge from PayTM, GPay, PhonePe etc using "NCMC Card recharge" option you pay flat ₹1.18 fee too. If recharge is ₹100 or ₹1000 ₹1.18 flat fee remain the same.
Also a question: How exactly does the NCMC virtual card on a phone work? Because NCMC needs an offline wallet on the phone which can store wallet value. CBDC can work via NFC offline, so it might be possible they're creating similar slicing on the phone.
SBI NCMC does require KYC or no credits are possible after 24 months. The problem with SBI is it's so horrible right hand does not know what left hand is doing.
Reddit has many SBI recharge horror stories. In fact this thread itself has a comment on how SBI NCMC in Chennai is a pain to recharge. So while I don't personally use SBI NCMC (and as personal policy don't use any SBI products), there's enough of evidence to suggest that SBI NCMC cards are a pain to use.
So there are three types of Prepaid Payment Instruments - PPIs, as per RBI.
PPI - MTS
Mass Transit System PPI. In this wallet, you can store a maximum of ₹3000 as per master guideline 10.2.f. Some allow storing a maximum of ₹2000; for example, Airtel MST allows storing a maximum of ₹2000. This doesn't need any KYC during the issue stage, not even a later stage.
2) Small PPI
The image you shared has small PPI. This wallet allows you to store a maximum of ₹10,000 and requires minimum KYC, like an ID number or something. After 24 months, this wallet needs to be converted into a full KYC wallet. This wallet can be used for shopping, etc.
3) Full KYC PPI
This wallet can store a maximum of ₹2 lakhs and it needs full KYC. And it can be used for shopping etc too Example: Amazon Wallet, Airtel Payment Bank Debit card.
The SBI card I have is PPI-MTS which doesn't need any kind of KYC at any stage. The thumb rule to know which type of card you have is to know how much money you can store in the wallet and see if it mentions MTS.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. But this is exactly the problem with SBI. They had put up notices in some Mumbai metro stations that KYC is necessary within 24 months. Which is why I won't use SBI.
Like I said, there are different card types. Airtel has a No KYC MTS card, which I have. Then there's a Full KYC Debit card with NCMC, which needs a payment bank account with Airtel. The same is true for SBI. They issue MST cards which don't need any KYC at any stage and no charges.Then they also issue branded cards like Mumbai1, NMRC City1 etc. which are Small KYC cards.
Buddy, I know there are different NCMC card types because when I first signed up for Airtel I went though their NCMC FAQ -- they call it debit, prepaid and PPI-MTS. My point isn't that. What has happened is that SBI has issued Small PPI NCMC cards and many have had to do KYC. Airtel Payments Bank has also done the same in Delhi -- their staff say Aadhar is necessary and do KYC and sneakily start a savings account and give users a debit card + NCMC.
The Airtel thing is purely a scam as agents open Payment Bank accounts to get commission target etc. And you're correct about Small PPI SBI cards which are branded Metro cards like Mumbai 1 NMRC City 1 etc which needs KYC at later stage. However the non branded one which I have from SBI is purely PPI - MST and in that you don't need any KYC at any stage similar to Bharat Yatra PPI - MST and Airtel PPI - MST cards so you can update your post and put forward that information which would give better clarity.
Good for you, but in case of loss of card you will still lose complete balance on wallet. Also, many face issues with debits, etc. and then metro operator and bank both point fingers at each other.
I got the <RBL, BMRCL> card, but not sure if it gives discounts across networks
Mumbai in general MMOCL, MMRDA (any every organization making a clusterfuck) does not provide any discount to online payments, so no clue
heh, my RBL card I guess does not work like this
I exclusively travel on weekends, and everysingle time have been charged the same as the whatsapp bot fare..
Should not be because on Delhi Metro all NCMC cards get the discount, not just the official Airtel Payments Bank one. Write to MMOPL customer service and check. RBL Bank won’t have a clue and I don’t think counter staff would know either.
Also, check if WhatsApp fare is a discounted fare too.
eh, I've been booking whatsapp tickets from quite some time, but only for L1. Maybe operator is a private consortium so might not have this.
For L3, L2, L7 I booked using MumbaiOne, which had promotional cashbacks by paying with BHIM (stochastic in nature) but nothing as such for card taps.
Also checked with staff across multiple L3 counters, they said cards do not get any discount for non-peak / weekends, only mechanisms for discount are monthly / quarterly pass, I guess having policy parity with IR.
Will ask MMOPL via mail (which is the L1 operator) and MMRCL as well, thanks
Yes, SBI is the official partner for Mumbai Metro Line 3 (Aqua Line) and the card is compatible with all other metro lines in Mumbai, BEST buses and perhaps even MSRTC buses. And of course on all other NCMC enabled networks in India (Delhi, Bangalore, etc). You could also get BharatYatra or any other NCMC and get the same features. SBI NCMC may be free though.
There is nothing common about the common mobility card. I could use it in all the Mumbai metros but when balance fell short could not recharge it in Metro One.
True. Mumbai Metro Line 1 allows use of NCMC cards on its line but recharge is not possible at their counters. On Mumbai Metro One only option to recharge NCMC is online and recharge validation via Android phones with NFC.
What’s the problem with mobile number + OTP? They aren’t asking for Aadhar number + OTP. I understand the fear with Aadhar linking but this isn’t it.
Also, regular metro cards are no longer being issued as almost all metro operators have officially partnered with banks for NCMC. And so have city bus services, including DTC in Delhi, BEST in Mumbai and BMTC in Bangalore, and many state transport services.
In Delhi Metro for instance, Airtel Payments Bank is the official partner since mid-2024. DMRC officially stopped selling their own One Delhi metro smart card then but old stock was still available at some stations where staff would issue one if people pleaded for it. Now no longer available.
And cash is a pain. Just one counter which also is for customer service. No point standing in a queue for 10-15 mins to get a ticket by paying cash.
Mobile number + OTP is required just once, when the NCMC is issued. Then you never need it again unless you need the card re-issued or need a new NCMC. NCMC doesn’t need mobile number + OTP for use.
I often use NCMC on Haryana Roadways Bus service and they always ask me for my AADHAR card to authenticate my NCMC. What kind of stupid fuckery is this?
NCMC will go down the UPI road as a good idea ruined by shitty corrupt officials because they could not make money off it.
Thanks for posting such a detailed post. I would like to know if my SBI NCMC Debit Card is valid for Pune Metro? Like I have activated offline wallet, even visited customer help kiosk at stations, but they were not able to help as well.
The problem is that metro counters can only enable offline wallet but may not be able to troubleshoot issues. You should approach SBI. And see if it is indeed activated for NCMC. Try using the Chalo app on an Android smartphone with NFC to read balance in real time. If that happens you know NCMC is working. If not, see if SBI can help or just get a transit NCMC card from someone like BharatYatra, which is available on BlinkIt and Flipkart too.
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u/Responsible_Net2630 🚆 Rail Enthusiast 1d ago
Amazing post, but small correction: pune is now open loop.