‘M-Pesa’ launched
PANJIM: Vodafone India along with ICICI Bank on Friday launched its mobile money transfer and payment service ‘M-Pesa’ in Goa, expanding the footprint in the Indian market.
The service will now be available across both the districts through 276 authorizing agents and across 290-odd big and small Vodafone stores in the region.
Addressing a press briefing, Vodafone India’s Business Head for Maharashtra and Goa circle, Ishmeet Singh said the service is safe, secure and convenient for transferring money and making payments beyond the reach of traditional banking channels.
The ‘mobile-wallet’ allows a customer to transfer money to any mobile phone in India, remit money to a bank account in India, make payments for utility bills and deposit and withdraw cash from designated outlets.
Business Head, M-Pesa Vodafone India, Suresh Sethi confirmed they have license from the Reserve Bank of India for this purpose.
To a query whether M-Pesa could be abused by criminal-minds in case a Vodafone customer either loses his mobile phone or it gets stolen, the company official replied, “No! It cannot be accessed by anyone since it has a pin number which is only known to the person using the service.”
Apart from Goa, the service is currently available in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, West Bengal, UP East, UP West, Bihar, Jharkhand and Rajasthan. The company plans to roll-out the service in the other States in phased manner in a bid to tap the migrant population.
