ICICI Bank and Movida partner on mobile payments service in India

Details: James Barton; Category: Mobile Finance; 30 July 2013; 5885 views

A new deal in India will facilitate mobile payments services for customers of the country’s largest private sector bank...

A new deal in India will facilitate mobile payments services for customers of the country’s largest private sector bank. ICICI Bank is offering the mobile payments service from Movida, a joint venture between Visa and Monitise.

The service will enable ICICI Bank payment cardholders to pay bills, recharge prepaid airtime and buy cinema tickets from their mobile phone. It will be possible to access Movida either through a menu-based USSD mobile technology, or an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) in multiple languages. These options make the service easy to use and are widely available from any type of mobile phone, including basic models.

Soon to be implemented by ICICI Bank for its payment cardholders, the service is designed to operate across all mobile networks using any payment card – Visa and non-Visa.

The cardholders will be able to make payments through Movida’s secured connection after linking their payment card to their mobile phone number registered with ICICI Bank. Their card account information will be kept secure by a unique PIN number.

Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, said: “We have seen a high level of demand from consumers to use their mobile phones for financial transactions. We are constantly innovating to meet this demand and empower our customers with solutions that offer greater choice and more convenience. This service by Movida will ensure they can get immediate access to a secure and simple solution that can be utilised even without an active internet connection.”

Uttam Nayak, Group Country Manager for India & South Asia, Visa, said: “ICICI Bank customers can now use their basic mobile phones, to make payments like telecom recharge and utility bills in a convenient and secure manner.”

Naushad Contractor, Movida’s President and Head of the Visa-Monitise joint venture in India, stated: “A growing population of more than 1.2 billion coupled with widespread access to a mobile phone, make a strong case for a vast mobile payments opportunity. Mobile payments users spend significantly less time and energy paying their bills, recharging their phones or those of family or friends, or waiting in line to buy tickets to the next blockbuster, because they are able to do it on the go and around the clock.”

He also added: “The mobile payment services which will succeed in India are simple, interoperable solutions that solve a real consumer need and can apply to any handset, without the need for a technology upgrade or a new purchase. They must be highly secure, reliable and provided by trusted partners.”