For the first time in India, a novel mobile commerce concept of mPay (mobile payment) has been introduced by the HDFC Bank in association with Reliance Communications. mPay will facilitate the HDFC Bank credit card holders to make payments by merely using their Reliance mobile phone handsets. Rahul N Bhagat, country head – retail liabilities (marketing & direct banking channels), HDFC Bank said, “Although HDFC mPay facility is currently available only to the Reliance Mobile phone users, we would in future tie-up with other Indian cellular operators too. Since over 84% of our banking transactions are currently routed through the alternate banking channels, mPay is expected to expand our credit card base across the country.”
CN Ram, head – information technology, HDFC Bank said, “The mPay platform eliminates the necessity to use a plastic credit card since the mobile handset itself acts as a virtual credit card with no separate card number provided as card holder’s mobile number suffices the requisite customer identification details. The new payment concept thus offers hassle free transactions in a more secured environment since there is no need to enter credit card details while making payments. It also thus eliminates the card skimming and related fraud risks.”
HDFC Bank currently has 40 lakh credit card customers.
Taking the cue from the Standard Chartered Bank, HDFC Bank has also announced to offer the money transfer facility to all its account holders through the usage of mobile phone technology.