IIM, IIT students set to pay fees the plastic way

IIM and IIT students will soon be able to swipe their cards to pay their course fees. IIM Ahmedabad, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Chennai are said to be in talks with the State Bank of India (SBI) for a 'smart card' on its campus. SBI officials say beside IITs, many other technology universities and colleges down south have approached it to make their campus a smart card operated one.

The smart card concept has picked up steam with Manipal University recently launching a smart card on its campus in association with SBI. Smart card is a one-in-all card concept where all the cards a student uses on a campus-- an identity card, an ATM-cum-debit card, a library card and a canteen card""are merged in to one to facilitate transactions on the campus. It's prime aim is to facilitate cash less transaction on the campus. The card comes with a 4k chip embedded on it, has a magnetic strip and a photograph of the student or college employee on the card.

"We realised that cash transactions on the campus were becoming an issue. Students would have huge outstanding canteen bills and other expenses too. This card would not only enable cashless transaction on the campus but also facilitate timely realisation of bills," said HS Ballal Pro-Chancellor, Manipal University.

To facilitate the process, SBI opens an account for each student. The student needs a minimum balance of Rs 500 in his account. SBI however, does not charge the students for this. Another advantage of this facility is to keep the parents in the loop when the student needs money. "The parent can credit the amount from any SBI bank and the student will be able to avail of the facility on campus," said Eshwaran, SBI Regional Manager, Mangalore. SBI designs the card as per the university's need. Cost of making one smart card is anywhere between Rs 200-300.

SBI took a year to complete Manipal University's smart card process. But for a small college, the process would take only 15 days. "We worked on the Manipal University project for a year. The college asked us to install access control on the campus which we did. We would also be placing 10 ATMs on the campus," said Eshwaran.

Through this transaction, SBI wants to increase its customer base among the students. The smart card comes with a lifetime validity and would be valid even when the student becomes an alumni of the institute. Besides, this card will give the student an advantage of accessing the account from world over .

"We want to catch the young generation. Many youngsters are approaching newer banks to open an account with them, through this approach of SBI they would be able to know the bank better and stay as our customers," said Eshwaran.

Another advantage of becoming a smart card campus for these institute will be strengthening the security system on the campus as these cards function on access control system. SBI has decided to install more ATMs on the college campuses. For Manipal University's Mangalore campus, SBI would set up 10 ATMs. The university's Manipal campus has 6 ATMs in place. Setting up of an ATM costs Rs 10000 to the bank.