Current Context: EnKash launched its UPI-enabled Meal Card on 22 July 2026, claiming it is India’s first meal-benefit card that allows payments directly from the meal balance through UPI.
- Employees can scan an eligible UPI QR code at restaurants, cafés, supermarkets, kirana stores and food-delivery merchants instead of depending only on card swipe or tap facilities.
- The card combines UPI payments with the RuPay network and is available in both physical and virtual forms.
- Employers preload the meal allowance onto the card. Employees cannot freely use this balance for every category because merchant-category controls restrict spending mainly to eligible food and grocery purchases.
- Companies can issue cards, load balances, set usage controls and monitor transactions through EnKash’s centralised dashboard.
- EnKash states that the card is accepted across more than five lakh food and grocery outlets, including major online food-delivery and grocery platforms.
- The launch follows the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which became effective from 1 April 2026. EnKash says eligible structured meal benefits can reach ₹200 per meal, ₹8,800 per month or ₹1,05,600 annually, subject to applicable tax conditions.
- The main purpose is to replace paper coupons and reimbursement-based meal benefits with a faster, traceable and tax-efficient digital payment system.
- Employees benefit from easier UPI payments and potentially higher take-home salary, while employers gain better control, compliance records and real-time visibility over meal allowances.
- The meal balance is not the employee’s ordinary bank balance. It is a restricted prepaid benefit that can be used only for permitted food and grocery transactions.
Question:
Q1.The EnKash Meal Card combines UPI payments with which card network?
a) Visa
b) Mastercard
c) RuPay
d) American Express
Answer: c) The meal card combines UPI payment functionality with the RuPay network and is available in physical and virtual forms.
