Obopay enters Indian market

BANGALORE, INDIA: Obopay, a U.S.-based pioneer in mobile payment services, has announced its foray into the Indian market and proposed to tie up with six banks over the next couple of months. 

Obopay is one of the few providers in mobile person-to-person (P2P) money transfer and remittance services. It claims to be the only service provider that operates cross bank, cross channel and cross operator. 

To begin with, Obopay is targeting users who already have bank accounts.

Aditya Menon, executive director, Obopay India, said: “It is a foregone conclusion that there are more people with mobile phones than bank accounts in India. Our aim is to reach every Indian with a mobile phone and enable them to make financial transactions from their cell phones, in partnership with banks The Indian market has both the need and maturity for a mobile payment service based on cutting edge technology and strategic business relationships." 

"We have invested about Rs 10 crore as capital investment in India. We are in talks with six banks and three telecom service providers, including Vodafone and BSNL. We also have plans to hold talks with more CDMA and GSM mobile service providers in future,” he added.

"The service is modeled on the debit system. It would be using the ATM network and is secure enough. For banks, it would be low-cost deposit solution, 'no frills" services enablement and effective remittance from point-to-point", he added.

Among the benefits that Obopay India will bring to mobile users in India are P2P money transfer, prepaid top up, post paid bill pay, MFI payments and collections, salary payments, ticketing for railways, buses, airlines, cinemas and events, insurance collections and payments, international money transfer, merchant transactions, brokerage payments, government payments, mobile and TV content purchase and TV merchandise.

Obopay will work on any phone and with any carrier to empower consumers and businesses with the convenience of mobile payments. It will be bringing mobile payments to more consumers through industry-first alliances.