Chennai, Aug 30 (IANS): Indian corporates are not cutting their budget for cash-loaded gift cards to their employees that enable them to buy whatever they want, said a senior official from Sodexo India.

The French multinational company Sodexo is targeting Indian corporates with its new product -- gift cards which could be given to their employees.

"We don't see corporates cutting down their budgets for employee gifting but it is on a rise. Earlier, corporates used to gift products to their employees but the current generation employees prefer gift cards as they have the flexibility to buy what they want," Suvodeep Das, Vice President (Marketing), Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services India told IANS.

"We are looking at the festive season -- Ayudha Puja in Tamil Nadu, Durga Puja in West Bengal and Diwali -- for our limited edition gift cards," he said.

Sodexo serves around 11,000 clients in India and around three million people use its products daily, he claimed.

According to him, the cards can be gifted by the corporates to anyone and not necessarily to only its employees.

While Sodexo meal card works on a propriety network for complete compliance with income tax and Reserve Bank of India guidelines, the gift cards are accepted on the Rupay network for two million retail outlets and 90,000 major online portals, Das said.