Beam has focused on working on financial integration rather than financial inclusion

How does Beam plan to add value to the m-commerce services?

Beam works on a different philosophy altogether when it comes to m-commerce services. While channelizing the money movement from people to people, people to businesses, we are targeting the banked and quite distinctively the 'unbanked' population as well. In a demography like India where nearly 60% of the population is unbanked, our company is all set to revolutionize the m-payment for this segment. Subscribers not having bank accounts can purchase Beam prepaid cards to load money in their Beam subscriber account and perform a variety of transactions viz recharging telecom and DTH accounts, making home delivery, shopping payments to merchants, paying utility bills, remote payments besides railway and travel bookings and many more services-all using their mobile phones or internet.

How has the performance of the company been since its inception in 2009?

The company has been very aggressive in reaching the roots of the country in last 1 year. Beam has registered its presence in 600,000 villages. While making our robust and secure systems, we also get our annual editing done by RBI.

In the last 1 year, the company has focused on working on financial 'integration' rather than financial 'inclusion' of the population. We started our journey with RBI authorization in November 2009 and then crossed the incredible 50 lakh customer base in a short span of less than 2 years. We work closely with more than 50,000 partners across India in reaching to more than 50 lakh customers through its innovative offerings.

Any changes that you will like to see in the policy or regulatory issues regarding m-commerce?

In my opinion, since m-commerce is all set to flourish in the country, the government can easily integrate the payment programs and schemes to NREGA and pension schemes. Mobile commerce services have really gained the ground in India, gone are the times when the ATM and credit cards made the wallets lighter. So, I believe that RBI should treat the m-banking and m-commerce at parity.

What are your future aspirations with regard to the reach of the company?

By March 2012, we will invest `500 crore for pan-India expansion of our business. Our business plans and expansion plans are huge. The company aspires to be $1 bn by 2015 and reach as many people as possible.

Has the company tied-up with any vendors for the m-commerce services?

Beam is a home-grown technology. Our head office is in Delhi. To provide our services via mobile, we have tied-up with almost all the telcos. We have focused hugely on our distribution channels and our retail business division.

Archana Singh
archanasi@cybermedia.co.in