 "An employee stands at the counter of Micromax mobile phones at a showroom in New Delhi")
Consumer electronics firm Micromax Informatics is set to offer mobile payment service to its consumers starting next month. The service is another step forward for the company, which is working on building a mobile ecosystem that encompasses all activities on a smartphone – utility, entertainment and e-commerce. The new offering will help Micromax add another 130 million customers in next two years, said Vikas Jain, co-founder.
The integrated service that will be launched in an exclusive partnership with mobile payment solutions company TranServ, can be availed of by oneself at e-commerce platforms for payment. TranServ, a Mumbai-headquartered digital payment solution company, will be providing the entire backend solution for the mobile payment service for Micromax. The company owns the ‘prepaid instrument license’ from the Reserve Bank of India and will be maintaining mobile wallets and validating such accounts for Micromax smartphone customers who avail the service.
The two are also coming up with a pre-paid card, linked with the mobile wallet account of individuals, for payments in brick and mortar outlets in the country. This will allow Micromax smartphone owners use the wallet money at 1.2 million retail outlets across the country as well. The service will have backend partnership with Visa, RuPay and commercial banks in the country to capitalise their existing reach. While digital banking still forms a major share of all the online transaction in India, online payments are yet to gain traction.
Micromax’s payment wallets, thus, could also be recharged at 1,35,000 outlets selling Micromax across the country, Jain said.
According to Anish Williams, co-founder and chief executive officer, TranServ, “With India emerging as the largest mobile phone user base in the world, the future of payments in India is heavily inclined towards smartphones.”
From now onwards all the smartphones from Micromax will have the service pre-installed, also 90% of the existing customers will be tapped in within next three months trough free software updates. The pre-paid cards for offline usage will be issued by RBL Bank, in partnership with TranServ.
