Mobiles have a power of greater unification of the masses

How is Atom Technologies shaping up its business in India?

Atom Technologies is deeply involved in creating an end-to-end payment
ecosystem-right from mobile payment to mobile based financial inclusion. We
started out by offering a very unique method through IVR based payments which
provides a very simple and secure mechanism for customers to make payments. We
have seen more than Rs 250 crore of transaction go through our platform over the
last year or so, with more than 100 merchants signing up.

With increasing rural mobile teledensity, how can financial inclusion
become a reality?

With more than 150 mn households not having access to basic financial
services such as banking and insurance, there is an urgent need to reach them.
At Atom, we have worked extensively on creating a mobile based microbanking
platform for offering banking services as well as other services to the rural
and semi-urban households which would include the financially excluded. Mobiles
have a power of greater unification of the masses into the mainstream.

How do you foresee the future of m-commerce in India?

While e-commerce has been decently successful, its use has been primarily
dogged by lack of availability and access to Internet for the population at
large, which is not the case with mobiles. This coupled with the penetration of
credit and debit card for payments across the vertical shows immense promise to
cover all spheres of  payments such as fund transfer, shopping, utility
payments, etc.

What are the major roadblocks in m-payment adoption in India?

There are customer readiness and deep penetration issues, which need to be
handled. This coupled with an efficient service delivery and a proper grievance
redressal mechanism, which would be required to ensure superlative success.

One of the major concerns regarding adoption of m-commerce is security.
What is your opinion regarding this?

We need to look at security from two dimensions­­-technology as well as
customer. From the technology angle, the key concern is data security while
keeping the services convenient for a customer. Another key issue is the
handling of customer data, which would require certifications and continuous
audit process to be in place, to ensure that the best practices have been
followed. At Atom, we have strongly advocated following certifications that have
been mandated for the payments industry such as PCI DSS and PABP, at the same
time, we have focused on providing end-to-end security.

Arpita Prem

arpitap@cybermedia.co.in