Visa is trying to connect all the dots in the mobile payment market in India. It recently launched Movida’s mobile payment initiative, a JV with Monetise. In addition, it has bought a mobile payment solution provider Fundamo and plans to offer the service to the industry.
According to Visa’s Global Mobile Product head Bill Gajda: Since we bought Fundamo, we are taking that software platform and putting it inside Visa’s, so we can provide a service for a bank or a mobile operator as opposed to them having to lease the software and build their own service. The ability to have a VISA account is tied to your phone number on any phone and you may never have a plastic card.
We want to work with all the mobile operators and the banks. So whether it’s the mobile operator to watch the mobile money services for the unbanked or banks that are now looking at what we call correspondent banking, we have branchless banking or agent banking. We have got a platform and a service so they can roll out these virtual VISA accounts.
Card penetration among merchants in India is low. In comparison, mobile penetration is much higher. And Indian’s central bank has been working closing with the banking industry and other interested industry groups to explore different ways for financial inclusion.
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