Vodafone, ICICI Bank launch M-pesa in Mumbai

Vodafone India and ICICI Bank have launch 'M-Pesa' - a mobile money transfer and payment service in Mumbai.

This service will now be available through over 1400 specially trained authorized agents.

To register for the service, Vodafone customers need to visit an 'M-Pesa' agent outlet, fill up a form, submit identity, address proofs and deposit a minimum amount along with it, to open their 'M-Pesa' account.

Arvind Vohra, business head -Mumbai, Vodafone India said, " ‘M-Pesa', is a safe, secure and convenient service to transfer money and make payments beyond the reach of traditional banking channels. For households where the earning members migrate to larger cities for earning livelihood, ‘M-Pesa' will be the best way to send money back home to their families."

Suresh Sethi, business head - M-Pesa, Vodafone India, "Today, less than 5 percent of villages in India have a banking outlet. Financial inclusion is a national priority and we believe that with ‘M-Pesa', we now have the ideal offering to facilitate the same across the country in compliance with all applicable regulations."

Ravi Narayanan, senior general manager, ICICI Bank, said,"This service will greatly contribute towards the larger financial inclusion objective of ICICI Bank."

Following the registration, Vodafone will activate the 'M-Pesa' account for the customer who will be able to use it as a closed wallet and make a variety of transactions including cash deposits, transferring money to any bank account, transferring money to any other 'M-Pesa' customer .

The customers will also be able to withdraw cash and send money to any mobile number once the documents are verified and approved by ICICI Bank. They'll also be able to pay online retailers.

According to the ICICI Bank M-Pesa website users need to pay a minimum initial amount of Rs 200 of which Rs 100 is deducted as a one - time account activation fee and remaining credited to the user's account as balance. For fund transfers, the maximum limit per transaction is Rs 5,000 which is also the daily fund transfer limit. The maximum limit for prepaid recharges is Rs 2,500.

Apart from Mumbai, ‘M-Pesa' has been rolled out in Kolkata, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Delhi and NCR and will be made available across the country in a phased manner.

Mobile wallets can have a maximum account balance of Rs 10,000 while Mobile Wallet and Mobile Money accounts can have a maximum account balance of Rs 50,000. ICICI Bank and Vodafone also charge a fee when the user sends money to a registered or unregistered user or Bank Account.

This fee ranges from Re 1 to Rs 180, depending upon the value of the transaction. Users can send money to any mobile number.

The recipient will receive an SMS along with details of the transaction and a voucher code. An authorised agent will facilitate the withdrawal request from his handset after verifying the user's proof of identity, mobile number and the withdrawal code. The service can be accessed through USSD by dialling *400# or by dialling 55400 from the user's registered Vodafone mobile number. Presently, this service available in four language like Hindi, English, Bengali and Bhojipuri (IVR).

Apart Vodafone, Airtel had also launched Airtel's mobile payment service in association with Axis Bank in May and later rolled out to 300 cities in the country.

The service was initially announced in November 2012 when Vodafone India through its 100% subsidiary, Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd. ("MCSL") had inked a strategic alliance with ICICI Bank for M-Pesa.