Vodafone, ICICI Bank Launch 'm-pesa'

Vodafone India, one of India’s largest telecom service providers and ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, have announced a strategic alliance to launch a unique mobile money transfer and payment service called ‘m-pesa’.

Vodafone India through its 100% subsidiary, Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd. (MCSL) and ICICI Bank have finalised plans to launch mobile payment services this year, under the brand name ‘m-pesa’. This offering will comprise: a mobile money account with ICICI Bank and a Mobile Wallet - issued by MCSL.

This offering will give services including cash deposit and withdrawal from designated outlets, money transfer to any mobile phone in India, range of mobile payment services including purchase of mobile recharge, recharge of DTH services and utility bill payments, money transfer to any bank account in India and payments at select shops.

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The partnership between Vodafone and ICICI Bank effectively leverages the strengths of Vodafone’s significant distribution reach and the security of financial transactions provided to customers by ICICI Bank. These services are made convenient using a vast network of authorised agents who will enable the customer to deposit and withdraw cash in and from their account. By facilitating banking transactions at such agent locations, this alliance effectively delivers the last mile access in remote areas.

The mobile payment service will be launched initially in the eastern region of the country viz. Kolkata, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand and then will be rolled out to other parts of the country in a phased manner.

Marten Pieters, Managing Director & CEO, Vodafone India said, “Vodafone is the world’s largest and leading provider of mobile payment services. Vodafone ‘m-pesa’ is offering millions of people basic financial services, beyond the reach of traditional banking. After an in-depth understanding of the Indian customer insights, we concluded that there is tremendous potential for this product in India. We are really proud to announce the strategic partnership with ICICI Bank and launch this first-of-its-kind offering with ICICI to provide mobile payments. This offering has been customised to serve the Indian customer in compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements”.

Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Bank said, “ICICI Bank has been at the forefront of leveraging technology in banking and has revolutionised the way Indian customers carry out their banking transactions. We have now launched ‘m-pesa’, a unique and innovative offering which will allow us to provide basic banking services to millions of customers spread across the country. This will help us reach out to segments that currently do not have access to banking services, towards our objective of achieving greater financial inclusion. We are very happy with this partnership with Vodafone which will bring together the strengths of our respective brands and our complementary capabilities.”