In an interview with Biztech2.0, Aditya Menon, executive director and CTO, Obopay Mobile Technologies (India), talks about the person-to-person payment service that Obopay plans to introduce in India through various channels.

Could you please tell us something Obopay's person-to-person payment service and its introduction in India?

We launched this service in the US in 2006, primarily as a person-to-person payment service; however, it turned out to be so successful that we now operate as a full-fledged financial services company in the States. Coupled with the US success story, we planned our foray into the Indian market. Obopay India now offers person-to-person payment services through roughly six banks already having a presence in the market.

How do the services offered by Obopay operate?

The whole idea is to ‘simplify’ the payment procedure. The only thing a user is required to divulge for deploying this service is his/her mobile number. Once the intended user signs up for the service; instant payments can be made to desired parties through our mechanism. If the recipient party has also signed up for the same service, then the payment is made instantly, otherwise, it is made on the next working day. The money is however, credited in both cases and goes to a bank account. Our current service in India is a bank-linked offering, unlike the US where we operate like a mobile wallet. The difference is primarily due to regulatory reasons.

Which products of Obopay are currently available in India?

Our Indian service bouquet comprises person-to-person remittance, person-to-merchant remittance, mobile check out, pre-paid top up and bill payments. We are also planning to launch a US – India remittance service, which will function on a mobile-to-mobile basis.

What value would these services bring to clients?

The entire ecosystem within which we operate is quite interesting. We have tied up with ATM shared networks, which will enable us to connect to a large number of banks. In return, the banks will reap benefits in the form an increased number of transactions in their stable due to this partnership. Presently, there are about 28,000 ATMs operational in India and the number of POS terminals in use is around 300,000, which for a population of around 1.2 billion is awfully small. At the same time, there are about 200 million mobile phone users in the country and this figure is seeing an addition of roughly 5-7 million users a month. Hence, if the mobile channel is tapped into, the total volume of transactions for ATM shared service providers and banks will grow phenomenally.

Also, for banks, a normal transaction would cost around Rs 50 while execution of a mobile transaction would cost only about one-tenth of that. So banks can reduce their operating costs by being a part of this arrangement. The telecom partners, on the other end, see this as a revenue-generating mechanism. They are looking at it as a value-added offering to their customers.

How can one access the service?

It is very easy to access this service. As such, there are no entry barriers. The only thing a user needs to possess is a cell phone number and a bank account. Following this, any of the partner banks will register the customer either through the internet or a contact centre. Alternatively, a customer can walk into a branch, complete the registration formalities and enlist as a user. Transactions can be executed through a number of channels. Platforms such as SMS IVR, WAP, J2ME, Brew, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and AOL instant messaging are some options available currently for making payments.