The government will spend Tk 17.5 crore to provide one crore poor families with smart cards, who are currently allowed to buy essential commodities at subsidised rates from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

The Infrastructure Investment Facilitation Company (IIFC), a state-sponsored institution, will help digitise the cards.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the cabinet committee on the government's purchase at the National Economic Council at the Planning Commission.

The meeting chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal also took a decision to buy 50 lakh litres of rice bran oil from two concerns of Majumder Group of Industries.