Can you carry your money in your mobile?

Gather a detailed point of view

The Indian telecom industry has shown high growth in the mobile business, enrolling over 870 million subscribers, reaching not just urban, but almost 40% of rural India. This has enabled provision of communication, entertainment & information based services to the last mile without the need of in-person service delivery. Innovative mobile applications have offered an opportunity even to sectors other than telecom (e.g. M- governance, M-commerce, M-health) to solve challenges of reach, transparency and provision of good quality services at low costs.

The Indian Financial services sector has recognized the opportunity to ride on the telecom wave not only to achieve higher financial inclusion, but also improve service quality for the financially included. However, the stakeholders – financial services players, regulators, telecom and technology players – have not yet invented any truly successful business model and technology solution to provide financial services over mobile devices. While, the opportunity of mobile based financial services – broadly termed M-Banking, M-wallet and M-Payments (‘Mobile Money’) – is recognized, stakeholders are still calibrating the consumer proposition, service delivery mechanism and regulatory environment to find the sweet spot.