Currently the focus is more on retail users, especially India's unbanked population

How has your company performed in the last fiscal in terms of revenue and customer acquisition?

In the last 1 year, we have had many breakthroughs in partnerships-we tied-up with Nokia in the beginning of the year to launch Nokia Money across the country. India was the first country to launch Nokia Money Services and we started our pilot in Pune. Post getting a positive response in Pune, services were rolled out in Chandigarh, Nasik, NCR, various cities in Gujarat, Bengaluru and now in Mumbai. Currently we have services rolled out in more than 20 cities across India. Signing up of customers and merchants has been a priority over the last year and we have signed up a significant amount of customers over this year. Since the services were rolled out in India, we have witnessed 100% growth in revenues in the last 1 year.

What were the new trends in financial services last fiscal?

Last year the biggest trend we saw was the emphasis RBI laid on mobile banking. Previously, RBI was keen to implement it but in this year there has been a strong focus. They also started Inter-Bank Mobile Payments Systems ( IMPS) with special emphasis on proliferation of mobile banking in India. Now companies will also start educating consumers so that proliferation is quicker and with minimum risks.

This year, RBI allowed non-banking entities like carriers to offer a semi closed wallet with a limit of `5,000. Subsequently, the limit increased to `50,000 showing a clear intent to accelerate financial inclusion. This resulted in an increase in number of banks showing interest, and intent to be a part of the IMPS also went up.

Do you also have any focus for enterprise/corporate customers?

Currently our focus is more towards retail users with special emphasis on the unbanked population of India. We are looking at enrolling enterprise and corporate customers as well in the near future.

Who are the operators you have partnered with, or are planning to?

Currently we don't have a partnership with operators as we have partners in place with Nokia and leading banks such as YES Bank and Union Bank of India.

Are you also talking to handset players to inbuild your applications?

Yes, we already have global association with Nokia to launch Nokia Money services in emerging markets. Nokia has started embedding the Mobile Money client service in all its devices in India. The service is available not only on high-end Symbian smartphone devices, but also on Nokia's Series 40 feature phones and Series 30 entry-level devices. The service is supported by keyboard devices, touch devices and a combination of the 2. In its functions, the service is integrated with the phone and other phone services.

Gyana Ranjan Swain
gyanas@cybermedia.co.in