Leading mobile phone vendor, Nokia has rolled out its money transfer services along with Yes Bank, which has received the regulatory approvals from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to act as the issuing bank and the custodian of funds under these services.
At present Nokia and Yes Bank have commenced a pilot in Pune that facilitates transfer of money to another person simply by using the person’s mobile phone number. They will also be able to pay utility bills and top-up SIM cards. “Looking ahead, there will also be the facility to pay for goods and services,” said Suresh Sethi, Group President, Transaction Banking Group, International Banking, Yes Bank.
Industry estimates suggest that over Rs 600 billion ($12.75 billion) is remitted across the country, and an estimated 46 per cent of 500 mobile subscribers do not have bank accounts. Sethi also said, “Partnering with Nokia gives us access to its 200,000 retail distribution network that becomes a touch point for consumers to avail the services.” With just about 200-300 million Indians having some form of national identity document who have an access to financial services, there are nearly a billion others with no national ID who are restricted from accessing the financial system and its services. Mobile Money Services will act as the micro banking solution for Yes Bank especially in the rural areas, insisted Sethi. The bank is hoping to attract educational and government payments over the mobile payment platform.
D Shivakumar, VP and Managing Director, Nokia India said, “We will work in partnership with multiple network operators and banks, involving our wide network of distributors and merchants in an open ecosystem to provide the new services.” The pilot in Pune will review customer behaviour to ensure a flawless service framework, prior to the national roll-out in a phased manner. However Shivakumar did not give a timeline for the actual commercial roll-out of Mobile Money Services.
Yes Bank is Nokia’s first partner in India to bring this service to market. Nokia’s volume share of the worldwide mobile device market is nearly 40 per cent, and shipped 432 million units in 2009. With Mobile Money Services, Nokia is making strategic moves to ensure the world’s largest unit volume markets like India develop reliance on features and functions that other brands may not be able to offer. Offering money service via text messaging could be an effective way to retain customers that do not have access to bank accounts, believed Shivakumar. “According to our estimates, Indian consumers have the potential to transact up to Rs 4.5 lakh per month, if we could provide services that are safe and come from a trusted brand like Nokia,” he said. The value of mobile payment transactions in India is set to reach up to $1.28 billion by 2013, according to industry experts.
The Finland-based firm will roll out its service in a partnership with Obopay, a service provider for payment via mobile phones in which Nokia had invested around $70 million last year. Obopay operates s a mobile payment platform that facilitates users of international credit and debit cards like Visa and Master Card to utilize the system to pay money.
More From This Section