Bangalore-based mobile payments company iKaaz has released an Android app allowing users to make contactless payments without topping up their mobile wallet in advance.
Many previous Indian mobile wallets needed topping up before a purchase could be made, but iKaaz’s MOWA app allows users to link their credit or debit card to their account, and only transfers the funds when a purchase is being made. Users can select a contact to pay, which could be a friend or merchant, and then send the payment using a ‘tap and pay’ function. This means that small businesses will be able to accept contactless transactions using their mobile phone as a point-of-sale device.
Each transaction will require “multi-level authentication by the user and security checks”, iKaaz Software’s CEO Soma Sundaram told Business Standard.
Transaction amounts will be restricted to Rs 10,000 a day and Rs 1 lakh a month, as per RBI guidelines. The app will be offered for free, but merchants will have to pay a 1.5 per cent processing fee.
iKaaz is launching the new mobile payment solution in partnership with DCB Bank, which will hold the payment license for the service.
About 7,500 Indian merchants already accept cashless payments using iKaaz’s NFC cards, and could easily make the transition to also accepting MOWA.
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