At last week’s launch of the Sampath – Cargills Visa Debit Card in Colombo, the country manager of Visa Worldwide South Asia related an interesting story.
“I am from a remote village, in the Karnataka State off the capital city of Bangalore and before the Credit Card (ATM) system came to India in 1998 traders from my village daily travelled in about 10 to 12 buses to Bangalore to bring money from city banks for their use in suit cases.
Some of them placed their suitcases over their heads, some chained them to their hands or sat on them to protect the money while travelling,” said Uttam Nayak.
But, he recalled, at least one suitcase filled with money is lost as there ‘were smart guys scheming to rob them’. However with the ATM systems coming to India, these traders stopped travelling to Bangalore to bring money, reducing any more robberies, ending the security risk of carrying money and saving on valuable time.
Mr Nayak used these introductory comments to explain the value, ease and time saving in the modern ‘Plastic Card’ money system.
He said the credit card has led to a new era of great convenience in cash disbursement. Mr Nayak said that he paid his home electricity bill, recently, while attending a conference in San Francisco, USA.
This newest Sampath – Cargills Visa Debit Card introduced by Cargills Food City and Sampath Bank jointly, in addition to the normal facilities of a debit card, has other consumer benefits. Every time a payment is made using this Card 1% bonus points would be added and also another 1% points for Cargills Kist, Magic and Suprimo, is added.
Ranjith Page, Deputy Chairman/CEO, Cargills Ceylon Ltd and Harris Premaratne, CEO, Sampath Bank also participated at the launch. |
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