New Delhi: Swipe a card and get the cash. Any time money - ATM - or Automatic Teller Machines if you please.
If an ATM is convenient for you then why not for your child?
A bank is now offering ATM cards to students of class nine and above and the timing couldn't have been more appropriate for Ananya Jain.
Ananya is 13-years-old, in class nine at Montford School and very much in love.
He has also just got himself a zero balance account opened at the Catholic Syrian Bank Ltd (CSB) under a scheme exclusively for students.
The scheme being launched by CSB is called Students Support Savings Scheme (SSSS).
It enables account holders to withdraw money at any VISA ATMs across the country.
There are no service charges or minimum balance and the children get the ATM card free of cost.
so why does someone like Ananya need an ATM card in the first place?
"I need the card for emergencies like Valentine's Day and Rose Day. I can't go around asking my parents for money to buy my girlfriend gifts," says Ananya.
Exactly. But, if you aren't a romantic, the pocket money saved could have a better purpose.
Another student at Montford School, Deepanshu Sethia says, "If I save Rs 100 every month, it will become Rs one lakh by the time I reach class 12 and will fund my foreign education."
Children as customers make a lot sense for banks. The idea is to catch them young and nurture future customers.
Says Zonal Manager,Catholic Syrian Bank, Ajit Prabhakar, "The bank account will not be shut down after the child finishes school. The idea is to cultivate new relationships with these customers and to encourage them to stay on with the bank."
And the procedure is very simple. One just has to fill a form, get the school Principal's signature, save wisely and one could be a millionaire by the age of 30.
And before the cynical amongst us shrugs this off as a mere gimmick, there is a brighter side.
At least a bank account inculcates the habit of savings in a generation surrounded by consumerism.
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