Timely Wages, Trusted Payments: Smart Payments for Urban Livelihoods

• by Guillermo Herrera Nimmagadda, Ritika Singh, Akshit Saini and Sanika Sayali Talekar
• Dec 16, 2025
• 2 min
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This case study documents how MSC’s Smart Payment Solution has can transform urban livelihood programs, such as MUKTA (Odisha’s urban employment scheme), in India. The solution integrates just-in-time (JIT) fund release alongside digital program management to streamline the delivery of payments. For MUKTA, the solution significantly reduced wage delays, simplified administration, and strengthened accountability, thereby enhancing the livelihoods of informal urban workers and women-led self-help groups. This success carries nationwide implications, showcasing high potential for replication across similar urban employment programs throughout the country.

Urban livelihoods in India are predominantly informal, leaving workers vulnerable to insecure employment and limited social protection. This vulnerability was starkly exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of migrant and low-income urban workers faced sudden income losses. The Housing and Urban Development Department (H&UDD) of the Government of Odisha responded to this crisis by working with existing community networks to create mass employment opportunities for the urban poor, informal, and migrant laborers. While MUKTA provided a critical safety net, its effectiveness was undermined by severe delays in wage payments to beneficiaries. These challenges undermined the intended outcomes of MUKTA. They not only strained workers’ livelihoods but also resulted in weak fiscal accountability at the urban local body (ULB) and state levels.  

To address these challenges, MSC, in partnership with the state government, designed and implemented a scalable Smart Payments Solution (SPS).  The solution combined a digital program management platform, MUKTASoft, with a just-in-time funding system. MUKTASoft digitized every stage of scheme implementation using a rule-based smart payments engine. The JIT funding mechanism ensured that funds were released directly from the state treasury to beneficiaries’ bank accounts.   

The pilot implementation of SPS delivered substantial results. Wage delays were reduced, approval times fell sharply, utilization certificate pendency dropped to zero, and overall fund management efficiency improved. Women SHG members also reported faster receipt of payments, reduced administrative burden, and greater financial independence. The success of the pilot led to the statewide rollout of SPS across all ULBs in Odisha. This case study demonstrates how smart payments, grounded in sound public financial management principles, can improve welfare delivery systems, and strengthen livelihood outcomes for urban informal workers at scale.