Highly fragmented market

Ranging from telecom providers to handset makers to tech startups, Indian market is highly fragmented for mobile wallets to break into the system. In India only startups like Paytm, Oxigen among others have mobile wallets; which makes it quite evident that they have not yet gained traction here. Whereas in the west,major handset makers like Apple and Google have Apple Pay and Google Wallet respectively.

Smartphone Market

India is indeed a major market for smartphones in the world, but a huge set of Indian population is still unaware of its use. However, merely having a Smartphone is not good enough either; as Apple and Google and other mobile wallets run on Near Field Communication (NFC) which is operable only in high-end mobile phones. Present Android phones are not compliant to NFC and the technology that is in relation with mobile wallets is confined to ones with deep pockets, like iPhone 6 holders.

Merchants

Indian merchants would have to go through a major revamp in order to be compatible for payments via mobile wallets. Retailers will need to install NFC-enabled payment acceptance terminal which would cost dearly to them. This is not recommended for the retailers, who at present fail to even install credit card payment terminal, leave alone NFC.

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