“Crownit -YES Bank” Digitized Meal Voucher systems promise big boost to digital economy

 

 A special Feature by Surveshwar Sarvesh

Pics By: Jayanti Arora

At a gala event organized in the capital, leading merchant discovery and privileges platform “Crownit” announced its alliance with Yes Bank to launch a one of its kind digitized Meal voucher system. A game changer for both the digital and the F& B industry in particular, these app-based meal wallets will pave the way for enabling as well as easing allowance dispensation between companies and employees.

The pact between YES BANK and Crownit will be crucial in contributing towards realizing PM Modi’s ambitious dream of a digitally-driven Indian Economy. An innovative, digitized system for companies has been devised for distributing meal vouchers to employees thereby helping in leveraging the ubiquity of smartphones. With this smart novel step, employers will get digitally empowered by getting them rid of the age old papered coupons, and instead sending vouchers to all the staff, with one convenient click distribution.

The path breaking system by Crownit also comprises an app-based digital meal wallet synced with a Meal Debit MasterCard which enables employees to avail unlimited food, beverage and grocery redemption options, both online and offline.

While doing away with the hassle of managing and distribution of paper currency for the employer, an integrated dashboard is there for allowing them to update their employee details for distributing the meal vouchers with a single command. For employees, the solution promises ease of access and use, along with tax savings ranging up to INR 10,000 per employee per year.

The secured pre-paid instruments with security features and app-based digital meal wallet are accepted at the largest merchant base of 2 lakh plus retail establishments pan India. Cashbacks and Weekly Rush tickets on meal voucher are additional benefits packaged for the employees. Another USP happens to be the offer of weekly prizes like iPhones, Amazon Kindles, branded gift vouchers, international trips, and much more on meal expenses by Crownit.

Speaking to media, Sameer Grover, Founder & CEO, Crownit, said, “We wish to make all the lifestyle spending by users absolutely seamless, in addition to rewarding customers and end users with cashback points. Albeit giving Vouchers as an incentive by employers has been in vogue since time immemorial, it has sardonically been an extremely neglected aspect of the expenditure. Our program and initiative makes this process much more smoother, besides providing a big benefit which is the fact that the meal vouchers are all RBI and income tax compliant, thereby fulfilling all regulatory norms. All funds deposited for Crownit meal vouchers will get directly deposited to YES BANK. The demonetization initiative of the government is a big step towards brining transparency and putting brakes on black money hoarding and funding anti national activities and terrorism. Our initiative is in harmony with the ambitious vision of PM’s Digital India Dream.”

Ritesh Pai, Senior President and Country Head – Digital Banking said, “YES BANK has always been at the hem of affairs when it comes to digital payments. Our pact with Crownit will enable us to focus on contributing towards digitally driven economy whilst driving wonderful customer experiences. This system is a phenomenal leap towards paperless transactions thus being environment friendly along with making the process of distribution and maintenance for employers uncomplicated while delivering plethora of benefits for their employees.”

This digitized, app-based program cuts through the hassle of distributing meal coupons by enabling one-click disbursement of corporate vouchers. While employers can instantaneously transfer vouchers to all employees, the employees derive benefit by having the coupons secured on their app and Meal Debit card along with the additional advantages which the program provides. The launch of this new system is unquestionably a win-win situation for all key players.

As regards Crownit, it happens to be the country’s leading O2O platform, connecting consumers with local merchants. Launched in July-2014, Crownit has witnessed widespread growth spanning four cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Crownit offers its users cashback at local merchants, and customers can redeem their crowns (Cashback) by shopping online, book movie tickets, pay their bills and many more. The retail program helps allure customers for outlet partners by marketing them through the app. Crownit has over 10,00,000 users and has over 15,000 merchants listed on the O2O platform. The long term ambitious plan of Crownit is to have 20 million users and drive $1.2Bn of annual GMV across 25 cities in India by 2018.

YES BANK on the other hand is India’s fifth largest private sector Bank with a pan India presence across all 29 states and 7 Union Territories of India, headquartered in the Lower Parel Innovation District (LPID) of Mumbai. YES BANK, is the result of the professional and entrepreneurial commitment of its founder Rana Kapoor and its top management team, to establish a high quality, customer centric, service driven, private Indian Bank catering to the future businesses of India.

YES BANK has adopted international best practices, the highest standards of service quality and operational excellence, and offers comprehensive banking and financial solutions to all its valued customers. It has a knowledge driven approach to banking, and offers a superior customer experience for its retail, corporate and emerging corporate banking clients. YES BANK is steadily evolving as the Professionals’ Bank of India with the long term mission of “Building the Best Quality Bank of the World in India” by 2020.