Tag: india mobile payments

HSBC predicts growth in the mobile payments space for India

As mobile technology continues to expand throughout India, the number of payments being made through mobile applications is increasing. According to HSBC, a leading bank, mobile payments are expected to reach $100 billion within the next 18 months. People are becoming more comfortable with paying for products and sending money to others via apps, and these apps are becoming more plentiful and some are offering consumers robust services. Banks could have much to gain from the continued growth of mobile payments.

Corporate employees are showing favor for mobile banking

HSBC notes that corporations are beginning to see significant promise in mobile payments. High-ranking staff members, such as CEOs and treasurers, are becoming mobile-centric, basing much of their lives on their smartphones and tablets. As such, they are abandoning old methods of managing money and issuing payments, such as writing checks. Instead, these people are becoming more likely to make a mobile payment as it represents an easier and more convenient form of commerce.

Mobile services are becoming a significant focus for banks

Mobile banking is gaining favor among many people. Banks are releasing mobile applications that allow customers to access their services and these apps have managed to win praise. As banks continue to see growth in the mobile commerce sector, these organizations are expected to invest more into mobile services and applications. This will allow banks to better engage a new generation of consumer that has become heavily involved in mobile technology.

Smartphone penetration is leading to a rise in mobile commerce

India is one of the world’s leading mobile payments markets. This is largely due to accelerated smartphone penetration. As more people obtain smartphones, they are becoming exposed to the concept of mobile commerce and the convenience of this concept has proven quite attractive to millions of people around the world. Competition is fierce in the mobile payments sector, which has lead to a wide variety of mobile apps being made available, giving consumers  many choices when it comes to determining which app they want to use.

This will give the users of the application the opportunity to use a new type of transaction through their smartphones.

A mobile wallet based in India, Paytm, has now announced the introduction of a new feature that will give 25 million users the ability to transfer funds to their bank accounts through the use of their smartphones.

This company is operated by One97, which is a business that is backed by Alibaba, the Chinese e-giant.

Mobile wallets have been rapidly rising in popularity in India. This country is one of the markets in the world where this type of smartphone based payments app has the best chances of success, due to the massive population and the low adoption of credit cards. Many merchants, including online retailers, have had to come up with ways to process transactions through cash. In fact, the current estimate is that even though there are more than a billion people in the country, there are only 450 million bank accounts, not all of which are considered to be actively used.

Mobile wallets provide users with greater reliability than cash without having to obtain a bank account.

That said, for those individuals who do have bank accounts, Paytm has now announced that its mobile payments app – which is supported by many different retailers and services, including Uber – has boosted the versatility of its offerings for the management of small floats of cash.

The users of the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) mobile apps are now able to transfer up to $80 (5,000 INR) per day, and they can make transfers of up to $400 (25,000 INR) per month. The minimum transfer amount is $16 (1,000 INR). The sender needs to have at least $32 (2,000 INR) in credit available to them in order to make the transfer.

This is not the first time that One97 has discussed this new feature, but considering the fact that Alibaba made an investment into the company in February, it is now starting to gain a great deal more attention. That agreement brought an estimated $200 million investment to One97, valuing it at $1 billion and bringing the Chinese e-commerce giant into India for the first time. That company is already wildly successful for its own mobile wallet and payments service, Alipay.