How many plastic cards can you carry? Credit cards, debit cards, privilege cards and loyalty cards. With usage of smart cards growing very fast, people are being compelled to carry wallets bulging with such cards.
Why carry so many? Just carry one, says a Hyderabad-based start-up information technology firm. Cardholders can have the images of all their plastic cards printed on this special card developed by the firm and use.
“Our technology allows integration of all cards on a single card. This is not cloning,” Ch V.K.S. Kumar, Managing Director of Onecard Techno Services India Pvt Ltd, argued.
He compares this with the usage of shortcuts on the desktop screen of personal computers.
“You don’t actually bring the whole file on to the screen. It is just an image that, when clicked, will take you to the original file. Our technology takes images on to the card and use it with a lot convenience,” he said.
On Sunday, the company showcased the proof of concept of the technology. It roped in former Indian Cricket Captain Saurabh Ganguly as brand ambassador for the product.
Ganguly and Andhra Pradesh Information Technology Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah launched the one-nation-one-card concept on Sunday evening.
“We have completed trial runs and pilots. We are going to launch the product in November. We will give the first card to the President, Pranab Mukherjee,” he told Business Line on Sunday.
The technology connects the images with the technical information embedded on the original cards, allowing the cardholders to access their accounts at ATMs and point of sales.
Asked about how safe the transactions were, he claimed that the company would not record any information on transactions.
“It is as good as using the original card. This card is protected by biometric authentication,” Kumar, a first generation entrepreneur, said.