India To Reach 100 Million Mobile Money Subscribers by 2015According to Tavess Research mobile money in emerging markets of Middle East, Asia, and Africa, is expected to cross 1 billion users by 2015 with India accounting for over 100 million subscribers.

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Enabling purchases and transfers using mobile devices as wallet, mobile money has become an imperative service particularly in areas with high mobile penetration and limited banking facilities.

In these areas, operators are laying strong emphasis on providing enhanced mobile banking services that are increasingly being adopted by consumers who are looking for secure and convenient banking and bill payment options.

Although in nascent stages, the 790 million mobile subscriber base and the huge unbanked rural population makes India a very attractive destination for this service. Initiatives, such as Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) easing of stringent regulations pertaining to mobile banking via increase of cap on fund transfers from INR 5,000 to INR 50,000; and new interbank mobile payment service launched by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), are nurturing the required ecosystem for increased roll-out and adoption of mobile money.

NPCI is currently receiving a lukewarm response with 10 million users registered for interbank mobile payment service recording transactions worth only INR1.5 crore ($.33 million) in April 2011. However, Tavess expects greater adoption of mobile money in the near future with service providers launching customer education campaigns and easy to use functionalities – taking the total subscriber base to 100 million by 2015.

The mobile money service mChek has seen the maximum uptake in the Indian market with two million subscribers followed by NG Pay with one million and others (such as , Airtel Money, PayMate and Mobile Money Services – Nokia’s initiative along with Yes bank).