mobile-payments

State of Mobile Wallets / Payments in India

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Mobile Wallets in IndiaPayTM, Mobikwik and Freecharge (owned by Snapdeal) are the biggest independent online wallet companies in India with claimed registered wallets of 120mn/25mn and 20mn respectively. Apart from them some telecom companies (Vodafone, Airtel, Idea ) and banks (SBI, ICICI, HDFC etc.) have their own online wallet services. The online wallet was initially developed as a means of enabling mobile recharges for consumers, which was subsequently, expanded to PayTV and utility bill payment services.

Some of the wallets companies like PayTM, telco and banking wallets etc have received

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Rise & Growth of Mobile Finance / Payments using JAM Trinity

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Rural India Mobile PaymentTechnically, e-finance is any financial product whose sale or consumption is facilitated electronically – or more specifically, via the internet or mobile. The ‘e’ part of e-finance is supposed to help reduce transaction costs, increase processing efficiency, and provide instant access to information. Some examples across the retail and corporate spectrum are identified below:

Retail – Being able to conduct a payment transaction on a mobile phone to a service/product provider without the physical exchange of cash, or being able to borrow from a bank via an online platform without any manual

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Apple Pay Heats the Race for Mobile Payments

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Apple Pay Heats mPayment RaceNon innovators in the Business are giving Apple run for its money in Mobile Payment by Lobbying. Apple Pay’s impact on the payments world in the US and internationally has been felt in the Silicon valley where PayPal was separated from Ebay and in Emerging Markets where are we likely to see m-Pesa -like disruptions.

Apple’s mobile wallet Apple Pay is one of the 200+ digital wallets in the market. Most mobile wallets ventures have been unsuccessful because consumers and merchants are conservative in payment behavior. Apple Pay is likely to more successful than rival digital wallets as it (1) has a critical mass of partners across the payment value chain, including card networks, issuers, processors and merchants, (2) critical mass of US smart phone market (c40%), and (3) they should be

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WeChat Monetization – A Step Closer to Reality

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WEChat - Monetization RealityTencent, the Chinese Internet Giant released the latest version of Weixin (WeChat) on iOS platform on August 5, offering new monetizable features like a game center, sticker shop, mobile payments and bar code scanning for e-commerce transactions.

Tencent has only put one Candy Crushlike mobile puzzle game, Tian Tian Ai Xiao Chu (TTAXC), on Weixin’s game center. By clicking the link, gamers are taken to Apple’s App Store for download. Within 12 hours of its debut, TTAXC was ranked no. 1 in Apple’s iOS free app ranking for China. We believe this is due to its social features, including score sharing, ranking and invitation, among gamers’ Weixin or QQ friend circles. TTAXC adopts a free-to-play item-based model, where gamers can purchase virtual items or additional game time through Apple’s payment channel.

Tencent will soon launch several mobile games on its Weixin game center overseas, including Fruit Ninja and Temple Run 2. In our view, the strong debut of TTAXC bodes well for

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NFC Mobile Payments Growth Slower – Gartner

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Gartner reduced its forecast for NFC mobile payments volume for 2016 by 40% to $22bn. Gartner attributed the revision to slower-than-expected uptake of NFC by consumers and merchants as well as the limited success of the Google Wallet and Isis Mobile Wallet initiatives.

Gartner noted that it expects NFC to account for 5% of total mobile-payments volume in 2017, up from 2% in 2013. Gartner forecasts that the global installed base of NFC-enabled phones will grow from 170mn in 2012 (3% of total handsets) to 2.1bn (32% of handsets) by 2017.

In India, >75% of payments are done by cash. Less than 3% is by credit and debit cards (owing to penetration being held back by high cost POS machines).

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Mobile remittances: Who benefits – Banks or Wireless Companies ?

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Eko believes the mobile banking business model has (1) convenience, (2) trust and (3) security—all three attributes that are sine qua non in a banking business. However, what it lacks is the “invitation to everyone”. Models like cash, and to some extent hawala, are open to all—anyone can access these systems. Therefore the process of … Read more