Manas Sood, a Class 12 student from the Delhi Public School, has distributed 2,650 boxes of Tax City Education and empowered over 12,000 students from 52 schools across India.
His aim? To help young Indians understand taxes and become financially literate.
Ninety per cent Indians find tax filing boring. But one teenager noticed a need and an opportunity.
While most people dread taxes and prefer to hire a consultant, Manas Sood, a Class 12 student at the Delhi Public School, turned it into an interesting 15-minute card game.
In May 2023, he built a game called Tax City Education to help explain taxes to young Indians.
Today, it is has empowered over 12,000 students across India.
"It is the world's only student-run educational game. It is a fast, interesting card game that aims to simplify and teach the basics of taxation to the young middle class aged between 14 and 35 years," the 17 year old tells Divya Nair/Rediff.
Turning his passion into a project
It all began after Manas bagged the first place in Toycathon 2021, a competition organised by the Union ministry of women and child development, which saw lakhs of student participants. In the finals, the winner had to develop a game and Manas showed the most creativity.
It was this experience that later inspired Manas to create Tax City.
"In Class 11, in economics, we learned about the problems of taxation in India.
"I realised that Monopoly -- the game that we used to play in our childhood -- is basically finance for dummies.
"During my conversations with various people, I understood that most people find tax filing very cumbersome though, in reality, it is a very simple process. Yet, they would prefer to consult a tax expert than file taxes on their own. This is because the basics are not clear.
"I thought: Why isn't there a game for taxation? And why not make it fun and appealing?"
With the help of his parents, Manas reached out to chartered accountants and tax experts. And, within two-three months, a prototype was born.
"Our target audience was very clear -- young, middle class Indians aged 14 to 35 years; because tax revenue in the country primarily comes from the young middle class."
What is Tax City?
Tax City is a card game with 12 different characters. Every character has a male and female version so there are 24 characters in all.
"Each kit has a rule sheet, tax forms, character cards and situation cards.
"Every player can take two cards.
"There will be different situations and each card has a clue.
"The details of the character will be at the back of the card.
"For every question, you have to pick an option. For example, you are a freelancer who has invested in a solar farm. Which category will you file your tax under?" he explains.
There are simple numbers and calculations in each card, mostly in multiples of 100 and 200.
A minimum of two and a maximum of six players can participate in each 15-minute game. The fastest player wins.
In the last two years, Manas and his team have distributed 2,650 boxes, reached 52 schools and empowered over 12,000 students across India.
"The cost of one box/kit is Rs 200. We spent Rs 6,000 initially for 300 boxes," he explains.
"We reached out to corporates and received a donation of Rs 20,000 which helped us make 1,000 more kits."
They now distribute the kits for free.
The journey from rejection to acceptance
Manas started with Jaipur in Rajasthan because, he says, "it is one of the states with the lowest financial literacy.
"What was shocking was people from tier 2 and tier 3 cities would rather listen to a consultant who charges money than take basic lessons from us just because we are young. In many schools, teachers also questioned us. It was disheartening but we had to move on.
"After we did 22 to 23 sessions in the Jaipur area, we had a good outreach so Universe Public School allowed me to present the project in front of Rajasthan's Minister for Education Madan Dilawar. He liked the project and endorsed it by sharing a letter of appreciation."
Apart from Jaipur, Manas and his team have conducted sessions at schools in Vishakhapatnam, Patna, Chennai, Air Force Public Schools, DAVs and Delhi Public Schools across the country.
"Financial literacy and financial education are necessary. They are life skills, just like swimming and cooking," he insists.
"My school has been really helpful throughout the process, right from developing the game to executing it. My teacher, Manoj Kumar Jahangir, helped me with the specifics."
His alma mater, DPS, he says also helped him secure project members and interns who helped him scale the project.
Their former CTO, Deepanshu Zood, a student of the Shri Ram School, Aravalli, helped build the team of interns, managed the website and social media.
"Today, we have a team of 35 to 37 members who are working as interns and a customer rating of 4.7 out of five," he says proudly.
Small budget, big dreams
Manas' total investment so far has been under Rs 10,000.
Last year, around October, they stopped selling/monetising these kits because he says "we realised that we were going against the main motive of the game, ie to educate the masses."
The team have approached a few reputed companies for grants to cover the manufacturing cost of the kits.
Manas, who has secured admission in the University of Southern California and is currently awaiting his US visa, has big plans for the future.
"We have developed Vision 2027, where we wish to launch six new games internationally.
"We also want to rebrand everything to cater to a larger audience.
"We want to take this to the US, UK and Nepal.
"All the six products will be different because each country will have different policies.
"For India, we are also launching two new games (apart from Tax City) -- one is called ArthLeela, which we are building with another organisation. It is basically a rural women empowerment game. And Jung, which is an economic history board game."
Once the grant is approved, Manas believes it will accelerate that process.
Highlighting the potential and necessity of financial literacy, Manas shares, "Outside the metro cities, people, especially in the south, are still opting for traditional and safe methods of investment -- gold, property, bank FDs, etc.
"They are not investing in stocks, bonds or digital gold.
"There is a real estate investment fund by the government but the mass is not accessing it because they don't have the knowledge or they think it is a fraudulent scheme.
"This lack of knowledge can only be fixed with proper financial education in schools.
The 17 year old, who aims to pursue a double degree in finance and political science from the US, has also filed a PIL in the Supreme Court, to mandate financial education for students aged 12 to 14.
He offers a smart piece of financial advice for students.
"When you get pocket money of Rs 1,000 from a guest or a relative on your birthday, don't spend it all on food, chocolates, etc.
"Instead, save Rs 200 or Rs 500 and tell your parents to start an SIP or a mutual fund.
"You can research online, there are many safe options.
"You can start small and keep growing.
"By the time you reach college, you would have created sufficient corpus to help you."
