Two churches in Kerala are in the list of eight religious bodies
for which the National Payments Corporation of India Ltd (NPCI) has
launched the immediate payment service (IMPS)-based donations.The churches are St Antony's shrine at Kaloor and the Basilica of Our Lady of Ransom at Vallarpadam in Kochi.
This service from NPCI, the umbrella organization set up by the RBI for all retail payment systems in the country, would ensure that these churches receive donations 24/7 from believers across the globe.
The senders only need to send an SMS to the bank with the beneficiary number and the mobile money identifier (MMID), the seven digit random number issued by the bank upon registration.
Federal Bank is the beneficiary bank for both churches. So, if a payment has to be made to Vallarpadam Church, the beneficiary mobile number is 8089090904 and MMID is 9049224. For St Antony's shrine, this is 8089070800 and 9049599 respectively.
The sender needs to give the amount and his or her own mobile personal identification number.
"All the donations would go to the local fund. This would facilitate things for the believers, especially those staying abroad, to make a donation to the church," said Archbishop Francis Kallarackal.
"This is a practice followed by churches in other countries. For people who cannot visit the church and make a contribution this is really helpful," he said.
Since there would not be any delay in the money reaching the churches, this would definitely be the preferred medium of transaction for many among the congregation, feel church authorities.
Dharmasthala Manjunatha Swamy Temple (Karnataka), Sarasbaug Ganapati Temple (Pune), Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust (Shirdi), Siddhivinayak Ganapati Mandir and Lalbaugcha Raja (Mumbai) are also included in the list of beneficiaries.