Tuesday, Jun 28, 2022

Vaccine registration: Startup helps in bridging digital gap

By Sruti Venugopal

Published: Updated On - 11:53 PM, Mon - 17 May 21

An agent helps a person with online registration for Covid vaccination at a BANKIT outlet. Fintech startup BANKIT is providing assistance to people in tier 2 and 3 cities to get themselves registered and book appointments for the vaccination

Hyderabad: Many of the vaccine eligible population have not been able to get access to the jab due to the large digital divide that exists in our country. Mostly people from the hinterlands who do not have access to smartphones and/or are not adept with usage of CoWIN app are finding it difficult to get vaccinated.

This comes at a time when the country is going through its worst phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, to address this issue and to bridge this digital gap, fintech startup BANKIT is providing assistance to people in tier 2 and 3 cities to get themselves registered and book appointments for the vaccination.

The fintech startup that is into providing banking services like money remittances, digital payments and cash withdrawal system through its platform has now added the vaccination feature as well. BANKIT started the vaccine registration drive about a week ago and through its 5,000 touchpoints in Telangana and 500 in Hyderabad is planning to help 35 lakh people get themselves registered on the vaccine portal.

“People who do not have access to any kind of digital device or do not know how to navigate through the Cowin app to get themselves registered for the vaccine; we are helping such people. These people, who are mostly residing in tier 2 and 3 cities along with villages, have to simply come to their nearest BANKIT outlet and our correspondents will help them with the registration and slot booking,” said Amit Nigam, COO and executive director, BANKIT.

These outlets, according to Nigam, are mostly the neighbourhood kirana or mom and pop stores who are trained in using their platform and are present in densely populated areas so that they can cover a larger population. All across India, the company has presence in 4,000-plus pincodes and has teams across the country. Apart from these outlets, the company also has its own agents working on ground.

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