Odisha today became the first state to roll out electronic fund management system (e-FMS) for payment of wages to MGNREGA workers with bank accounts.

This was jointly announced by Finance minister Prasanna Acharya and Panchayati Raj minister Kalpataru Das in presence of RBI's Deputy Governor Harun Rashid Khan, Finance Secretary J K Mohapatra and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development D K Jain.

"Under the e-FMS, all beneficiaries having bank accounts will get wages within 24 hours of payment," Panchayati Raj Secretary Aparajita Sarangi said.

Efforts were on to cover the rest of the job card holders having accounts in post offices, Sarangi said.

She said this would help reduce the turn-around time required for wage processing and payment.

"This will also help in eliminating idle parking of funds at different levels and delay in payments," she said.

The idea of launching the e-FMS came from Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh who felt that many poor people avoid working under MGNREGA mostly due to delay in payment, Jain said.

While 57 per cent of MGNREGA beneficiaries have accounts in banks, 43 per cent have accounts in post offices.