Expanding in emerging markets
Movida, the mobile payments joint venture between Visa and Monitise have announced a deal with ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, to utilise Movida’s mobile payments service for the Bank’s customers.
The service will enable ICICI Bank payment card holders to pay bills, recharge prepaid airtime and buy cinema tickets from their mobile phone, anywhere, anytime. 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 card holders, 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.
Monitise Group Chief Executive Alastair Lukies said: “India is an extremely dynamic market in which to offer our services, providing the ability to transform the lives of millions of consumers. We’ve seen a strong commitment from banks in the region to provide relevant payment services to their customers, and are excited to be working with ICICI Bank to make payments truly mobile for its customers.”
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. These are the premises of the Movida solution, and we are delighted to be working with ICICI Bank to provide this service to its customers.”
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