Beijing, Aug 30 (IANS) China aims to issue around 800 million multi-purpose cards that will allow their holders to perform a variety of tasks, including financial transactions and information inquiry, officials said Tuesday.
The 800 million people will cover 60 percent of the country’s total population, according to the country’s 12th five-year plan 2011-2015, the China Daily reported.
Designed to closely resemble a bank debit card, the multi-purpose cards will be able to perform services like information recording, information inquiry and business processing.
The ministry of human resources and social security said 145 million cards have been provided to Chinese citizens till July, and the number is expected to touch 190 million by the end of the year.
