Capivest, a Bahrain based Islamic investment bank successfully formed a joint venture between one of its subsidiaries - Kaizen Automation Pvt, Ltd., (a leading company in automation projects established by the bank in India) and the Central Railway in India through a public-private partnership. The launch of “Go Mumbai”, a multi-purpose Smart Card for use by public transportation commuters was marked by an inaugural ceremony which took place in India.

The new Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) systems, implemented for the first time in India, were set up in and around Mumbai to read travel cards (also known as Smart Cards) used daily by thousands of local commuters on more than one mode of public transportation. Other major cities in India have already expressed serious interest in implementing AFC systems elsewhere, allowing the use of Smart Cards for their public transport commuters as well.

Commenting on the reasons why Capivest chose to form this public-private initiative in India, Mr. Nabil Hadi, CEO of Capivest and Chairman of Kaizen Automation Pvt, Ltd, said: “We at Capivest have a keen interest in projects that further develop the infrastructure of countries, but at the same time are environmentally friendly. There’s no doubt that if we can ease commuters travel experience, there will be a higher interest in using public transportation, which will ultimately lead to fewer cars on the road and a cleaner environment.”

AFC multi-application Smart Cards are already in use in countries such as, USA, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore, as well as in many parts of Europe. The reason is that AFC has many advantages, such as automating the ticket accounting and selling processes, and giving detailed data on system usage.  AFC also reduces the time commuters waste in long queues waiting to buy travel tickets, which simplifies and encourages commuters to use public transportation. Additionally, Smart Cards application for various uses such as toll collection and other daily consumer needs are planned in the pipeline.

Plans for this project, which was developed to improve India’s infrastructure, began through a consortium of companies including Kaizen Engineering Systems Pvt, Ltd. A joint venture was formed by Capivest and Kaizen Engineering Systems Pvt, Ltd, to take the lead in this essential public-private initiative with the Railways and BEST buses in Mumbai.