Banks are trying to make college campuses cashless

Bengaluru: DCB bank, Slonkit, a money management mobile app linked to a Visa card, along with educational institutes, have partnered to enable a cashless environment in some colleges around the country by providing students with debit/NFC cards that work like a regular debit card. The card can also be used for micro-payments, be it on canteen food, attendance, buses, books etc.

The cards can function as an identity card which will have the student's name, photograph and roll number, a prepaid debit card/library membership card for books borrowed or for tracking readership. It will also serve as an attendance card for access to labs, classes, gyms or a billing card for college facilities such as buses, shuttles, or canteens.

The multipurpose card, which works like a prepaid card linked to a mobile wallet, will also allow students to check their balance so they can plan out their monthly expenses.

Push notifications on app

The mobile wallet/app will enable educational institutions to send push notifications to students for details such as exam dates, tuition fees, and so on.

"We have 12 colleges, which have signed up with us, (including) polytechnic colleges, arts and science colleges and engineering colleges, in Mumbai and Delhi. We have 75,000 students in our network and have handled 2 lakh transactions a month since we rolled this out in April-May 2018," said Praveen Kutty, president, head retail and SME banking, DCB Bank.

Through "Tap-N-Pay" cards, ICICI Bank made its own campus cashless first, before beginning at Infosys and Indian School of Business. "The semi-closed prepaid card solution works like a unified stored value smart card. Existing ID or access cards issued to employees, teaching staff or students can be used for cashless transactions," said an ICICI Bank representative.

Karur Vysya Bank, a Tamil Nadu-based bank, has also assisted in creating cashless educational institutions, for example in Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore.