Vodafone India and ICICI have come together for a strategic partnership to launch a mobile money transfer and payment service called ?m-pesa?.
Vodafone India through its 100 per cent subsidiary, Mobile Commerce Solutions Limited (?MCSL?) will start offering mobile payment services m-pesa shortly. The offering will comprise a mobile money account with ICICI Bank and a Mobile Wallet – issued by MCSL.
The service will allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash from designated outlets, transfer money to any bank account in India, recharge mobile and DTH services and pay utility bills.
The mobile payment service will be initially launched in the eastern region of the country including Kolkata, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand and then will be rolled out to other parts of the country.
Commenting on the partnership, Marten Pieters, managing director and chief executive officer, Vodafone India, says, ?Vodafone is the world?s largest and leading provider of mobile payment services. Vodafone ?m-pesa? is offering millions of people basic financial services, beyond the reach of traditional banking. After an in-depth understanding of the Indian customer insights, we concluded that there is tremendous potential for this product in India. We are really proud to announce the strategic partnership with ICICI Bank and launch this first-of-its-kind offering with ICICI to provide mobile payments. This offering has been customised to serve the Indian customer in compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements?.
Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive officer, ICICI Bank adds, ?ICICI Bank has been at the forefront of leveraging technology in banking and has revolutionised the way Indian customers carry out their banking transactions. We have now launched ?m-pesa?, a unique and innovative offering which will allow us to provide basic banking services to millions of customers spread across the country. This will help us reach out to segments that currently do not have access to banking services, towards our objective of achieving greater financial inclusion. We are very happy with this partnership with Vodafone which will bring together the strengths of our respective brands and our complementary capabilities.?
