Daily Times

The kiryana retailer registrations have risen substantially from 300 to 3,000 per week under the Ehsaas Rashan Riayat Program with the collaborative efforts of Chief Secretaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) team, and district administrations.

This was conveyed during the progress review meeting with the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) convened by the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Senator Dr Sania Nishtar to track the cadence of Ehsaas Rashan Riayat Registration.

The meeting discussed that President NBP, Arif Usmani; Chief Digital Officer NBP, Hamayoun Sajjad, executive leadership, and over 500 regional officers from all over the country joined the meeting. Secretary of the Social Safety Division, Muhammad Ali Shahzada, and Additional Secretary Captain (Retd) Saeed Ahmed Nawaz was also in attendance.

The Rashan Riayat program of Ehsaas is being executed in partnership with NBP. The registrations of Kiryana retailers and poor families are currently in full swing and preparations are underway to formally roll out the program soon.

NBP is facilitating the Kiryana owners to open their bank accounts. NBP authorized Kiryana retailers will disburse Ehsaas Rashan subsidy to eligible beneficiaries through a special purpose, ‘mobile Point of Sale’ (mPOS) App.

Answering questions of NBP field officers, Dr. Sania reassured that the Ehsaas Rashan Riayat system has been made hundred percent digital to checkmate misuse. It has nothing to do with bringing the Kiryana owners into the tax fold.

The Kiryana owners-centered communications plan was also discussed to apprise retailers of the 8pc tax exempted commission on each subsidy transaction and quarterly raffles offering cars, motorbikes, mobile phones, and various other prizes.

Later, responding to another most frequently asked question from the field team, Dr Sania stated, “Ehsaas Rashan Riayat is flexible to variety and quality of commodities. Eligible families will be free to avail a subsidy of Rs1,000 a month on the purchase of wheat flour, pulses, cooking oil, or ghee of their preference. Accordingly, a 30pc subsidy will be given on these three items, per unit purchase.” Dr Sania thanked the NBP leadership and team for expediting the progress of Kiryana registrations.

She also urged them to accelerate the verification and account opening process for registered Kiryana stores.