OmniCard has launched what it describes as India's first Flexi Benefits Basket on UPI, introducing a single employee-controlled wallet that enables organisations to distribute multiple tax-efficient workplace benefits through the country's digital payments network.
According to the company, the new offering allows employees to allocate their benefits across eligible categories and make payments at any merchant that accepts UPI, replacing separate cards or closed-loop payment systems for individual benefits.
Single wallet brings multiple employee benefits together
Unlike traditional employee benefit programmes, where allocations are fixed by employers, OmniCard's new platform gives employees the flexibility to decide how their benefits are distributed across eligible categories.
The wallet supports benefits including:
- Meals
- Fuel
- Telecom
- Books and periodicals
- Gadgets
- Other eligible employee benefit categories
Employees can use the benefits through standard UPI scan-and-pay transactions at merchants such as office cafeterias, restaurants, food delivery platforms, fuel stations and bookstores.
Launch follows changes to tax rules
The launch comes after changes introduced under the Income-tax Rules, 2026, notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and effective from 1 April 2026.
According to the revised rules:
- The tax-free limit for employer-provided meals has increased from ₹50 to ₹200 per meal.
- The benefit is available under both the old and new tax regimes, subject to prescribed conditions.
- Employees can receive up to ₹1,05,600 annually as a tax-free meal benefit.
OmniCard said extending similar structures to other eligible benefit categories, including telecom and books and periodicals, could enable annual tax-efficient employee benefits exceeding ₹2 lakh, structured within an employee's cost-to-company package without increasing employer costs.
Designed for employees and HR teams
The platform combines employee flexibility with administrative controls for organisations.
According to OmniCard, key features include:
- Employee-controlled allocation of benefit balances across eligible categories.
- Payments through more than 60 million UPI-accepting merchants.
- Merchant Category Code (MCC)-based controls to ensure spending remains within eligible tax categories.
- Instant issuance of physical and virtual cards with digital KYC.
- A central dashboard for HR and finance teams to manage issuance, allocations, reporting and transaction visibility.
The company also said the wallet operates directly on its own Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) licence rather than through a reseller arrangement.
Built on an existing business payments platform
OmniCard said the new employee benefits solution expands its existing UPI-based corporate payments platform.
According to the company, enterprises already use its platform for expense management, fleet and fuel management, petty cash and business payments. The Flexi Benefits Basket extends the same payment infrastructure and spend controls to employee benefits.
Abhishek Saxena, Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of OmniCard, said the company wanted to move beyond standalone meal cards by giving employees greater control over how workplace benefits are used while maintaining tax compliance.
Abhinav Saxena, Co-Founder of OmniCard, said the platform enables employees to select different benefit wallets during a single UPI payment, with the company's PPI infrastructure routing each transaction to the appropriate category in real time.
Available to businesses from launch
OmniCard said the Flexi Benefits Basket is immediately available to its enterprise, mid-corporate and SME customers through digital onboarding.
The company also plans to make the platform available to partners including HRMS providers, payroll platforms, staffing firms, compensation consultants and banks through API-based integrations.
According to OmniCard, the company serves more than 1,000 businesses, including McDonald's and Patanjali, and provides UPI-based corporate spend management solutions across employee benefits, expense management and business payments.
The launch reflects growing efforts by fintech companies to combine India's UPI infrastructure with employee benefits administration, offering organisations greater flexibility while adapting to changes in the country's tax framework.