Nokia to roll out mobile banking in many Indian cities
Thursday, 15 April 2010, 15:31 IST
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Hyderabad: Finnish telephone supplier Nokia is planning to roll out its mobile banking service, Nokia Money, in many Indian cities soon, a Nokia official said. A pilot of this service launched in Pune in February with YES Bank had received "extremely encouraging" response, the official said. The company is now looking to have similar tie-ups with other banks to roll out the service in other parts of the country. "A decision will be taken after the six-month test period. The process involves getting approvals from Reserve Bank of India," said the official, who did not want to be named. Nokia Money is like a wallet on phone as it lets people transfer money through the mobile phone. Subscribers also can pay utility bills and top up SIM cards. There will also be the facility to pay for goods and services. "By using this facility a person living in one place can transfer the money to another person not having bank account and the latter can receive the money from Nokia dealer in his area," said the official, explaining the working of the scheme. Nokia has 200,000 retailers in India who could serve as mobile money services agents. India today is the world's fastest growing cell phone market. There are 500 million mobile phones in the country and this is expected to cross 900 million by the end of 2013. At the same time, an estimated 41 percent of Indians and 46 percent of mobile subscribers do not have bank accounts. Nokia feels the potential for mobile money services is huge. It expects the value of mobile payment transactions in India will reach up to $1.28 billion by 2013.
Source: IANS
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