Vodafone offers mobile banking service to 700 million Indians
Updated: Apr 19, 2013 09:47:19am
New Delhi, Apr 18 (KNN) Having a bank account is a luxury for many in the developing countries. But that is about to change in India with the launch of M-Pesa by Vodafone India and ICICI Bank, according to a CNN report.
M-Pesa is a mobile based money transfer and payment service that was first established in Kenya in 2007.
“The partnership, announced in a news release April 17, claims it will give mobile-banking access to some 700 million Indian people who are currently "unbanked" -- people with no access to conventional banking services like bank branches and ATMs,” the report said.
The money transfer and payment service will be first rolled out to the eastern regions including Kolkata and West Bengal with 8,300 agents. About 220 million people reside in that area. In due course the service will be extended across the rest of the country.
According to the report, M in the M-Pesa system stands for mobile and ‘pesa’ is the Swahili word for money. It begins with real cash and an M-Pesa agent. To begin with, a customer signs up and registers a personal mobile phone number. He then deposits money into the linked account of an agent store, which could be a mobile phone stop, a gas station or a supermarket.
When an individual has to send money, he would have to input the recipient’s mobile phone number, the amount of money to send and a security code for protection. On the other hand when he needs to withdraw funds, the receiver visits an M-Pesa agent and requests a withdrawal through his or her mobile phone. In such cases, both the receiver and the M-Pesa agent receive a confirmation for withdrawal, which instructs the agent to give the customer the cash.
Significantly, the platform can be used to pay bills and buy mobile talk time.
"For millions of people in India, a mobile phone is a bank account, a front door to a micro-business or a lifeline to people in the remotest areas," the media report said quoting Marten Pieters, Managing Director and CEO of Vodafone India.
"Research shows that M-Pesa brings real benefits to users in their daily lives, saving three hours a week of their time and around USD 3 in money transfer costs -- a significant amount to people in some areas."
The report has also pointed out that greater cell phone penetration brings greater economic benefits to local economies.
“In 2011, India alone added 142 million new mobile phone subscriptions -- twice as many as in the whole of Africa, and more than in Europe, the Middle East and the former Soviet republics combined, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in a June 2012 report.”
Further, India recorded an enormous boom in cell phone subscriptions -- growing from just 3.5 million to more than 893 million between 2000 and 2011.
During that same time, China saw mobile phone subscriptions increase more than ten-fold to more than 986 million subscriptions while the United States saw growth of just 87 per cent over the same period to 290 million, according to the ITU. (KNN)
M-Pesa is a mobile based money transfer and payment service that was first established in Kenya in 2007.
“The partnership, announced in a news release April 17, claims it will give mobile-banking access to some 700 million Indian people who are currently "unbanked" -- people with no access to conventional banking services like bank branches and ATMs,” the report said.
The money transfer and payment service will be first rolled out to the eastern regions including Kolkata and West Bengal with 8,300 agents. About 220 million people reside in that area. In due course the service will be extended across the rest of the country.
According to the report, M in the M-Pesa system stands for mobile and ‘pesa’ is the Swahili word for money. It begins with real cash and an M-Pesa agent. To begin with, a customer signs up and registers a personal mobile phone number. He then deposits money into the linked account of an agent store, which could be a mobile phone stop, a gas station or a supermarket.
When an individual has to send money, he would have to input the recipient’s mobile phone number, the amount of money to send and a security code for protection. On the other hand when he needs to withdraw funds, the receiver visits an M-Pesa agent and requests a withdrawal through his or her mobile phone. In such cases, both the receiver and the M-Pesa agent receive a confirmation for withdrawal, which instructs the agent to give the customer the cash.
Significantly, the platform can be used to pay bills and buy mobile talk time.
"For millions of people in India, a mobile phone is a bank account, a front door to a micro-business or a lifeline to people in the remotest areas," the media report said quoting Marten Pieters, Managing Director and CEO of Vodafone India.
"Research shows that M-Pesa brings real benefits to users in their daily lives, saving three hours a week of their time and around USD 3 in money transfer costs -- a significant amount to people in some areas."
The report has also pointed out that greater cell phone penetration brings greater economic benefits to local economies.
“In 2011, India alone added 142 million new mobile phone subscriptions -- twice as many as in the whole of Africa, and more than in Europe, the Middle East and the former Soviet republics combined, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in a June 2012 report.”
Further, India recorded an enormous boom in cell phone subscriptions -- growing from just 3.5 million to more than 893 million between 2000 and 2011.
During that same time, China saw mobile phone subscriptions increase more than ten-fold to more than 986 million subscriptions while the United States saw growth of just 87 per cent over the same period to 290 million, according to the ITU. (KNN)
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