E-wallets usher campus 'fee'dom

KOLKATA: Are you one of those habitual offenders, who regularly forgets to pay your child's school fees on time? If you feel too lazy , or struggle to find time, to visit the bank once a month, here's technology to the rescue, with a growing number of city schools and colleges accepting fees through mobile wallets.

Paytm, India's largest mobile payment and e-commerce platform, has enabled around 10 prominent schools and eight colleges to take the tech leap and become "cashless campuses", giving guardians the option of paying fees at the press of a finger. A handful of other campuses have gone cashless, thanks to PayU, another mobile e-commerce platform.

Schools like DPS Ruby Park (also Durgapur), Gems Academia, Future Education, New Town School, University of Engineering and Management, Vidya Mandir, Globsyn group institutes, St Francis Xavier have unveiled mobile wallets, but are yet to gauge its real impact. Most guardians, however, are enjoying the hasslefree nature of the arrangement. Tapati Pandit, mother of a student at DPS Ruby Park, feels the entry of the mobile app on campuses indicates a revolutionary shift in currency usage. For her, the advantage is easy to assess. "I can even do it from my desktop," she said.

Vineet Kansal, CEO at The New Town School, said around 40%-50% guardians at his school had opted for mobile wallet services for paying school fees as it has become a great time-saver. Sonia Dhawan, DGM (marketing), Paytm, said: "A large number of students and parents have already accepted this method as the preferred payment mode since no transaction cost is involved."

Sukanya Agarwal, whose daughter studies in The Newtown School, is happy to get rid of the hassle of net-banking formalities."In the mobile wallet payment, you don't have to go through scrutiny processes like furnishing a one-time password, security questions and security device code," she told TOI.

There are other advantages, too. Ankit Anurag, a fourth-year computer science student at IEM, finds cashback and coupon code offers quite lucrative.

"Paying such a big amount through the mobile wallet option ensures a good chunk of cashback," he said.