It is quite surprising that while several established banks and marketing companies offer a raft of services, most are not actively looking to cash in on an important, and soon to be vital, part of any business: the ability to make and accept mobile payments. Mobile payments are now becoming an increasingly vital tool in a business’ armoury. It is projected that mobile payments are going to replace plastic, or even hard currency, as the primary medium of monetary exchange in the next five years. This particular method is poised to change the way consumers buy goods and services.
Quite a few banks have their payment apps for smartphones, however, in a country like in India where feature phones are still majority, the concept of apps will not work for the masses. Several payment solution providers are seeking to address this problem. Nokia, the manufacturer of some of the most widely used mobile phones in the country, is also seeking to address the issue with its recently launched its mobile payment service, Nokia Money. The Nokia Money works with feature phones and allows most basic monetary transactions ranging from mobile top-ups to ticket booking, without the necessity of having a bank account.
Nokia’s mobile wallet service is aimed at rural India, where most of the people do not have a bank account or don’t own a smartphone, personal computer or credit/debit cards. Nokia also aims to simplify lives of people by giving them a secure and convenient method of paying their utility bills. Prior to the launch, Nokia had conducted a successful field test for about a year in areas such as Pune, Nashik and Chandigarh. The company partnered with YES Bank and Union Bank of India to provide the service.
As mentioned earlier, you do not need to have a bank account to avail the Nokia Money services. All you have to do is visit a local authorised Nokia retailer, who will embed the service on your phone. Then you have to pay cash to the agent and get the digital cash transferred to your phone via an instant SMS message. There are two types of accounts you can opt for – Easy Pay and Easy Send.
Easy Pay is the basic version of the service in which you can pay settle utility bills, phone top-ups, insurance premiums and tickets among other payments through a SMS.
Easy Send is however a more sophisticated account and includes additional services in addition to those provided by Easy Pay. In this process, sign up is required and you may need to furnish proofs for ID, signature and address. Besides the basic monetary transaction, Easy Send lets you send money to other Nokia Money users. You can also use the service as ATM and pay money to retailers, who are member of the service.
Nokia Money: Challenges ahead
A majority of the Indian population deal with cash and cheque. In fact, there is no mature credit card culture in India, though it is starting to proliferate its way into metro cities. Nokia aims to cater to rural India but we’re a little unsure if rural masses will turn up in droves to register for such an m-payment mode. Awareness about the service is likely to play a key role.
Another major hurdle for such SMS-based system is the quality of mobile network in India, which goes on deteriorating in the rural and remote areas. Call drops/poor network/unsent SMSes are a pretty common thing. And at times SMSes are not received immediately, which Nokia Money requires.
Undoubtedly, m-payment is the future. India is also one of the largest markets in the world for feature phones. Such a service is certainly has the potential to help a large number of Indians, who can only afford budget phones.
Do you think India is ready to switch to a mobile payment solution? Or, do you think there may be more hurdles in the way? Let us know your take in the comments section below: