Pocket Money Apps for Teens in 2023…Understand What’s in store for the New Year

The year 2022 saw digitization further cement its roots, which in turn continued to transform the financial industry and saw the emergence of new age banking. The speed of digital banking and contactless payments in the country led to a subsequent shift towards wallets, contactless cards, digital payment apps and various other financial products. In the midst of all this, pocket money apps for teens gave youngsters a new voice and platforms to manage their own allowances and make real-world decisions, just like their parents.

2022: the year that raised awareness of the personal finance needs of India’s teenagers

India’s teenagers (currently over 200 million) considered unprofitable until they hit the education loan seeking age and therefore largely ignored by banks, conduct over 80% of their transactions in cash or alternately use their parents’ cards or digital wallets for digital transactions. GenZ is India’s most tech-savvy and a digital first generation. Despite the fact that they have struggled to find ways to become financially literate in our country, because it is not only left out of the educational curriculum of schools or colleges in India, but is also a limited topic of discussion in families.

Pocket money apps for teenagers understood the pulse of this segment and came forward to create digital platforms to enable them learn money managing skills through financial products and features available in their app. Teen-oriented wallets come with a pocket money card (credited with specified allowances provided by their parents on an occasion-based / weekly / monthly basis)
giving them access to instant money anywhere, anytime! 2022 witnessed more and more teenagers constantly figuring out ways to consciously use their allowances and learning how to allocate it for their personal consumption needs. It has also been a win-win scenario for parents who gave thumbs up to their kids using these apps as it brings more discipline and better insight into their spending habits.

While the fintech arena in 2022 saw the recognition of teenagers as a distinct customer base, 2023 will be oriented towards driving transactions in line with this segment becoming even more independent. Let us understand how…

In 2022, wallet apps primarily focused on product innovation and gamification of features to make the experience immersive and engaging for parents and teens alike. For example, parents can reward their children for money saved and even assign tasks to motivate the young users into good habits. Some market players also made it possible for teenagers to transfer money between friends. Such features were quickly unlocked by the GenZ consumers who thrive on peer-to-peer relationships.

The coming year will be graced with a number of consumer-centric feature enhancements and on-ground marketing initiatives that will include the following–

• UPI activation with pocket money apps will boost the adoption rate among young users, especially at a time when the need of the hour is to further enhance the customer experience and provide customers with seamless instant payment options along with enhanced security. Merchants in grocery and retail, food delivery and clothing, among others who experience repeat purchase transactions from teenagers via pocket money apps, will benefit from such a development.
• Video Know your customer (KYC) is a giant leap that will unlock more features never before available to the teenage segment. For parents and teenage children, this is really a convenient mode as it allows them to complete the entire KYC process at their convenience from home. Video KYC will enable teenage customers to make ATM withdrawals using their cards, enjoy an enhanced transaction limit of INR 100,000 and make peer-to-peer transactions/wallet transfers.
• In app solutions including a simple one-step phone charging for teenagers will make topping up prepaid phone accounts convenient, seamless and instant.
  
• Pocket money apps deal with a user segment that loves to be appreciated, recognized and encouraged. The
  retail brands focused on teenagers are expected to offer more and more curated discounts and rewards in collaboration with such players in the coming year.
• In 2022, over 75,000 students from 200 schools from Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune participated in the country’s largest Money Olympiad for Students. Young Indians are inclined to learn about new-age digital finance solutions, which is why several players are expected to launch on-ground initiatives involving students to further their quest to help teenagers test and build on their financial literacy
• While pocket money apps started with a vision to give students both financial independence and help build financial literacy, we believe there is still a lot to be done to develop financial literacy among young Indians. We will potentially see a much more expanded content library and a high level of gamification, as well as a renewed focus on personalized learning sessions in schools and housing complexes that are entirely focused on the topic of financial literacy.