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Digital transactions are the new normal, especially post Covid-19 – even for children. Gone are the days when you would simply hand over some pocket money in cash to children and you are good. Kids these days are transacting online for anything and everything — be it paying school or tuition fee or buying notebooks, books and other stuff. They play online games. They order food. There are innumerable tasks for which they might be using your debit or credit card.

“Sharing your credit or debit card details with kids is not safe. You never know on which website they end up exposing your account details. Even if the sites are genuine, the very process is cumbersome. You could be in a meeting and getting a call from your child asking for OTP,” says Abhishek Saxena, co-founder and COO, Eroute Technologies, a card-based payment company.

Considering these challenges, Eroute launched its maiden product offering OmniCard, a prepaid card, especially aimed at youth. Your child can download the OmniCard app and you can transfer the money to the virtual card. One can order the physical card too, which can be used at malls and merchant outlets and also on e-commerce websites. The app supports contactless QR code and NFC payment too.

“Children can make transactions only up to the amount that you have transferred in OmniCard, so your liabilities are limited. Users or you as a parent can set up spending limits and track spends using OmniCard app,” points out Saxena.

Setting up the app

Users can create their card within 15 seconds by following a simple digital onboarding process. More than 10,000 downloads have happened within a week of the product launch.

• Download the OmniCard app from Play Store or AppStore
• Choose the card type from three options – royal blue for girls and boys and a black version
• Provide one of the identity proofs – PAN, Aadhaar, driving licence, Voter ID card
• Basic account is created under which transactions up to Rs 10,000 can be made
• Order the physical card by providing your address
• Do your KYC to hike the transaction value
• Add money via UPI ID or debit, credit card or netbanking

Adding money from your UPI ID is free. There could be payment gateway charges if you are doing it with a debit or a credit card or netbanking. Saxena says in a day or two transactions via debit card and netbanking will be made free. “We’ll bear the payment gateway charges ourselves on debit card and netbanking, but not on credit card.”

Is physical card free?

Technically, not. Since it is an app-first product, the company has provided the option of earning Omnis. As you add money to the wallet or make various transactions, you will keep earning Omnis. Once you have earned enough of it, you can order the physical card for free by redeeming Omnis. The first 30,000 users will be given 1000 Omnis for free. If you do not wish to earn Omnis, you may pay Rs 250 to fetch the physical card. Omnis can be used to unlock flat discounts on merchant websites present on the platform.

Hidden charges

Saxena says there are no hidden charges.

“We are not levying any registration charges or annual account maintenance fees. We are earning revenues from card payments, marketing and brand partners.”

What are the other benefits?

The OmniCard is enabled with National Common Mobility Program to access mass transit systems using Tap & Pay. In simpler words, you can board metro using OmniCard.

“Mumbai metro already supports NCMP protocol, while rest of others including Delhi metro have to do it within six months,” he says.

Discussing another feature, Saxena says, the physical card can be deactivated.

“If we lose our physical cards, we get no option but to block it. Then in a day or two you would find it somewhere in your house. OmniCard gives you an option to deactivate your card before you block it,” he says.