Spice Money to help rural population register for COVID-19 vaccination

Rural-focused fintech player Spice Money on Wednesday said it has launched a dedicated initiative to help people register for the COVID-19 vaccination.

Spice Money has launched the dedicated assistance initiative for vaccination registration to enable rural citizens to register through its dense network across more than 18,000 PIN codes, Spice Money said in a release.

The company said it has also initiated a special drive to spread awareness and educate its banking correspondent partners (Spice Money Adhikaris) about the priority vaccination available to them as directed by the government.

The Spice Money Adhikari (SMA) network covering 95 percent of India's rural PIN codes will facilitate people to register and book an appointment for vaccination, said the fintech company.

They will also help to dispel vaccine-related myths that may exist in smaller communities.

People in rural India are facing registration challenges due to a lack of digital literacy and also often remain unaware of the initiatives rolled out for them, it said.

The company said the COVID-19 vaccination registration is made available on the Spice Money app and portal through integration.

"The Digital Dukaans operated by the Spice Money Adhikaris will now act as registration help centers for their communities. They will offer end to end assisted registration services to their customers and ensure the rural citizens get vaccinated," it said.

Rural citizens can also call on '1800 572 1572' to find out available Spice Money Adhikaris near them, the company added.

"We are offering our assistance in the process to avail the COVID-19 jabs as part of DFS' initiative to vaccinate BFSI employees on priority. We are also mobilizing our SMAs to help rural communities in their areas with self-registration for the vaccines.

"Through this initiative, we want to play our part to support the vaccination drive in rural India," said Sanjeev Kumar, CEO, Spice Money.

Spice Money has over five lakh Adhikaris (entrepreneurs) offering services like cash deposit, Aadhaar-enabled payment system for cash withdrawal, mini ATM, insurance, loans, bill payments, cash collection centre, among others.