Gift cards are just one among the various types of prepaid cards that are offered by banks. Other types comprise forex cards like those offered by HDFC and SBI. They can be utilized for purchases and cash withdrawals in the requisite foreign currency overseas.

Other prepaid cards are meant primarily for corporate entities and not individuals. For getting a gift card, you need to fill a basic form and hand over the identity proof plus the cash to any local bank branch. You will be issued it on the same day.

You need to check about the fees and limits, if any. Processing your gift card application incurs a fee. The amount is in the range of Rs 100 to Rs 200. It varies from one bank to another. The amount is higher in banks such as IDBI and Axis, where the activation fees are one percent of the amount that is loaded onto the card provided the card value is more than Rs 10,000.

You can get a gift card for any denomination, from Rs 500. The ceiling on the gifting amount varies depending on the bank you approach. The cap roughly ranges between Rs 10,000 (at banks likes HDFC) and Rs 50,000 (at Axis and ICICI).

Though the gift cards are supposed to be easily available at all local bank branches, this is not always the case. Smaller bank branches may not stock gift cards at all times. The personnel there may ask you to visit the main branch. Also, your cheque may take an additional day to be processed and the card will be activated only after that.

If the gift card has been presented before the activation has been done and if the receiver immediately uses it, the transaction will be declined.

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In one of our previous blog posts, we checked the various features of a gift card that make it user-friendly. We shall continue with our informative series on gift cards that are perfect for personal and corporate gifting.

As we have explained, a gift card offers flexibility to both the receiver as well as the giver. Importantly, it is not limited to one time usage. It is valid to be used on more than one occasion, and at different shopping avenues, for purchasing items of varying amounts until, of course, the card exhausts its value.

Check for their validity as these cards invariably come with an expiry date. Of course, the time span allowed to use it is quite extensive. It can be anywhere between a year to five years depending on the issuing authority.

However, it makes sense to use a gift card without delay because rising inflation can eat into its value as the cost of something you want to purchase might well increase before you know it.

If you fail to use its full value and there’s any amount balance on the card after the date of expiry, the bank will most probably return the amount pending after deducting certain fixed charges.

Also, banks usually impose a time limit after the expiry date within which the gift card must be returned to it in order to collect the balance amount. If the outstanding amount on the gift card has been used up fully before expiry, you should return the card to the bank.

If the card carries substantial amount of value, it may become a tedious task to constantly keep track of the amount spent and the balance remaining on it. To overcome this issue, each card carries the Internet banking user name and secret password, as well as a personal ATM pin.

The balance amount may be checked either through the issuing bank’s ATM services or its net banking facilities. We have discussed how to use a gift card, but you may want to know how and where to purchase one. We shall check the details in the next blog…

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You will be busy celebrating and welcoming the New Year with your friends, family and colleagues - texting and calling them as well. This also is the perfect opportunity to share our joy through exchanging wishes and gifts.

The New Year gift basket is a not to be missed ritual. Here we offer some off-beat ideas and basic suggestions for you to create a gift basket for your boss, colleagues and friends.

• Always keep the hierarchy factor in mind. For your immediate bosses, the gift basket should be a tad bigger, and the gifts, that much more expensive.
• The basket that you gift your owner or MD should be the most impressive. Come up with a bottle of his/her favorite perfume; buy a branded shirt or get a classy pen set.
• The gifts you give may not be that much more expensive than the ones you give your colleagues, but should be packed creatively and presented in person.
• Decorate the handle with a bigger bow or shinier ribbon and you’re sending a sub-conscious message about his status.
• Find out what the person likes is looking to acquire before making a choice and that person really wants to possess. It is not always about buying a costly gift.
• If you want to be conventional, stick to office essentials like deodorants, classy pens, desk-top clocks, miniature calendars, etc.
• Colleagues in your department should be given the same gifts or goodies; you can skip the other departments unless you have forged special ties with some of them.

Make an impact with an impressive gift basket and after that, no one will be forgetting you in a hurry. Last but not the least, do your bit for society, when buying your gifts. Buy some products from an NGO.

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Yes, Father’s Day might just be an off-shoot of Mother’s Day, but it can always turn into a special day for the family. But buying an interesting gift for this special man in your life is almost always a trying predicament. Here are some ideas you can put to good use for an interesting gift for your dad.

Practical gifts rule
Men like gifts that are either useful or bring their competitive nature into play. Decorative gifts are not for them. 

Wallets, briefcases, video games, computer games, ties, shoes, cell phones, etc are what they want.

On the other hand…
Certain gifts carry about with them the image of the new-age man who is with the times. Shahrukh Khan has popularised the waistcoat (and ponytail) for the urban man, so don’t shy from gifting a dressy one.

They also like to be pampered so a day at the spa is no less inviting for them as it is for women.

A great bottle of liqueur — the more unusual the better — is a good choice too. But yes, gifting him bottles of moisturiser is going a little further down the metrosexual road than he probably has.

Monogram your gift
Men like their stamp on their personal possessions. So go ahead and put your dad’s name or initials everywhere — a briefcase, a wallet, a watch — honestly, he’ll love it. Just get it done at a professional place, artistically.

It should look classy and masculine, above all else.

Choose the right colours
We would encourage you to go for the new-age men’s colours. We’re not talking about pink. Men can go for pink shirts on certain occasions but steer clear of pink accessories like wallets and briefcases.

Get a charcoal black or a deep slate gray instead of a regular black, or a deep chrome blue instead of a navy blue. Bottle green is a great colour to, and a deep purple is also a masculine colour without walking down the beaten track, even though it comes from the pink family.

Opt for textures
Textures add a lot of character to any surface. You can achieve a classy sheen or a gravelly, masculine feel to a gift item just through texture.

At the end of the day, you should know your father well enough to get something that will suit his personality. Be as adventurous as he is flamboyant, and be as subtle as he is conservative. You can always add a dash of your own personality to the gift in a special way, just so that he will always think of you whenever he looks at the gift.

Sometimes all it takes to show you care is a special dinner or even just a thoughtful act. Just enjoy the day and make it special.

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