Why Kochi Metro Axis bank smartcard is complicated?

When I was in Kochi recently I thought I will buy a smartcard for Kochi metro- I do this in all cities even if smart card costs a bit. Metro smart card usually carries following advantages

• Don't have to buy ticket for every individual journey- can enter and exit from any station at will.
• Paying by a metro smartcard gets 10-20% discount compared to buying individual journey tickets
• The smart card serves as a souvenir, 
• Money loaded usually remains in it even if I don't use it for years, I can use it next time when i visit the city

Buying a metro smart card worldwide is a very easy process- pay a small amount for the card, load money into the card (either buy card from a vending machine or from ticket counter) and start using.

However Kochi metro has a different mechanism for smart cards compared to Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. Here in Kochi Axis bank is managing the metro smart card and they issue a Rupay Prepaid card instead of conventional smart cards. Now this adds following complexity

• We need to do KYC providing DL, PAN etc
• There're lots of fees- One time joining fee, fee for loading money, annual renewal fee et

However I am thinking why Kochi metro has opted for this complex model. Now Axis Bank has to make money from the deal, so they have their charges, Rupay incurs cost so they take a cut. Too many stakeholders make the process complicated and expensive as everyone need to get their cut.

If we can pay by Rupay prepaid card, they why can't we pay using other debit cards/credit cards with tap feature? Why monopoly to Axis Bank?

Annual charges loading charges etc won't go well with consumer. I saw most people preferring to buy day pass or single journey ticket instead of Axis Bank Kochi 1 smartcard.

What are your thoughts?

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