UnwireIndia

Mobile banking is the new buzzword for the niche players who plans to bring banking to India’s rural population but the glitch is that RBI has still not issued final guidelines. However, players have already begun work on this new concept.

US-based mobile payment company Obopay, which marked its India foray through partnership with Yes bank, is betting big on mobile banking.

The pilot project aims to connect with rural Indians is going to be launched in Mumbai. But mobile banking relatively new in india raises many security concerns especially because the RBI has still not issued final guidelines on mobile banking.
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The small Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives has begun setting up a pioneering system which it hopes will make it one of the first countries whose citizens bank primarily using mobile phones.

All the country’s banks have been brought together under a single system to allow the islands’ residents to pay money in and out swiftly without the need to travel to the nearest branch - which could be many miles away.

The Maldives received a US$7.7m loan from the World Bank in April, allowing it to begin establishing m-banking. It was seen as an ideal place to start up, with a relatively high GDP and lots of people with mobile phones.
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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today asked banks to keep their mobile payment services on hold till it issues final guidelines for such transactions.

Banks can, however, continue to provide basic services such as mobile alerts for credit or debit entry, balance enquiry or other services that are in the nature of providing information, the RBI said in a statement.

It has asked banks to dissociate themselves from any mobile-based money transfer service that has not received the regulator’s “explicit approval” or is not covered by its guidelines.
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Spice Mobiles, India’s leading mobile handset-maker today launched Spice S-707n - the true m-commerce partner. With the Indian Govt. regularizing m-commerce, Spice Mobiles has tied up with ngpay, the leading mobile commerce service in the country. The launch of Spice S-707n is yet another initiative of Spice Mobiles to carry forward its tradition of offering technologically advanced & innovative products to the customers.

Spice S-707n gives its users, the power to transact through fast, simple and secure means with the pre-loaded ngpay feature enabling them to book Railway, Airline and Bus tickets, make bank transactions, send gifts to the loved ones, pay bills, booking hotels, movie tickets and much more … all accessible over ones palm while on the move.
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With the Reserve Bank issuing draft guidelines for mobile banking, at least three leading public sector banks are getting ready to roll out full-banking services via cell phones in the coming few weeks.

Country’s largest lender State Bank India said it is in the final stages of its M-Banking roll-out and has scheduled its launch in middle of July, while Bank of India and Union Bank of India plan to introduce their services by June-end.

SBI, which had earlier planned the launch for June, had to reschedule it in order to get a suitable aggregator, a senior bank official told PTI. “We expect to launch our services in the second-half of July. We are on the look out for an SMS-aggregator and would short list a player soon. This would be primarily for SMS-based transactions,” the official said.
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PayMate India, a mobile payment company, has closed its second round of investment of $9 million led by Mayfield Fund and participation from existing investors, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures. Nikhil Khattau of Mayfield will join the board of PayMate. In July 2006, Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invested $5 million in PayMate.

PayMate India Private Limited is a mobile commerce solutions company based in Mumbai. PayMate was founded in may’2006 by Ajay Adiseshann, Founder and MD, Coruscant Tec and Co-founder, & Director Probir Roy. In a short span of time PayMate India has partnered with top MNC, State owned and Co-operative Banks to offer its unique mobile payment solution - PayMate.
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The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has tied up with Corporation Bank to enable the bank’s debit card holders pay the LIC policy premium using a mobile phone.

Corporation Bank has been offering the LIC premium payment facility through ATMs and net banking since 2003. Corporation Bank customers wishing to avail the new facility can register their mobile phone numbers through the bank’s ATMs.
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GSM major Idea Cellular today launched a pilot service of mobile-based money remittances for its subscribers in United Arab Emirates (UAE). This service has been developed in association with Tata Communications, UAE-based Etisalat and HSBC India. In the first phase, this service will be extended to its over 2.7 million subscribers in Kerala.

Pradeep Shrivastav, chief marketing officer, Idea Cellular, said, “Studies have revealed that remittances have greatly influenced income, consumption and saving patterns in Kerala. Creating broad based financial empowerment to our subscribers, this mobile base service will be truly effective and path breaking, helping us further build our leadership position in the Kerala circle.”
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Essar Communications Holdings, the telecom subsidiary of the Ruias-controlled Essar group, has acquired a strategic stake in US-based mobile payment solutions provider Obopay. However, neither the financial terms nor the percentage of stake acquired were disclosed.

“We are excited with our investment in Obopay. The company has introduced significant mobile payment innovations in US and in India. We look forward to working with Obopay to integrate mobile phones in the lives of consumers,” K B Rajendran, senior V-P (business development), Essar Global, said. Read the rest of this entry »

The March edition of Mobile Monday offered some interesting insights into user demographics and behaviour while using cellphones to pay for services or products. About 70 people attended the event, which was sponsored by mobile commerce company Paymate India Pvt. Ltd.

The topic of the evening was ‘wireless commerce’, moderated by panelists who represented the mobile payment company and brands using it—Channel V and online travel company Cleartrip India Pvt. Ltd. Under discussion was the concept of using mobile phones to offer gift vouchers. Read the rest of this entry »