MSN India reports on mobile wallets and payments in India saying that "current payment players in India are mChek, Obopay and PayMate." The article notes that the Reserve Bank of India is currently formulating the regulatory guidelines for mobile payments with the final draft expected by June 2008.

In an article titled "RBI to regulate MasterCard, Visa and Western Union", India's Economic Times reports on a draft proposal posted to the Reserve Bank of India's website today implementing provisions of India's Payment and Settlement Systems Act of 2007 that would require "every person desirous of commencing or carrying on a payment system ... [to] submit an application to the Reserve Bank for authorization."   » Continue Reading

India's PayMate has announced it is expanding the reach of GiftMate, its mobile gift voucher program, 'to non-resident Indians in North America who can now send GiftMate mobile gift vouchers to their friends and family, anywhere in India.'   » Continue Reading

Airtel has announced the launch of range of Mobile Commerce solutions including Mobile Money Transfer (MMT), Postpaid Bill Payment and Prepaid Recharge on the mobile phone. Airtel is partnering with ICICI bank, HDFC bank, SBI, Corporation bank and VISA to enable these payments using a solution that has been developed by mChek.   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'Villagers across 12 states to benefit from mobile banking', Leslie D`Monte writes for India's Business Standard about mobile banking and how government is helping increase adoption.

mChek, an Indian company focused on mobile security and payments services, has announced that its mChek on Airtel postpaid bill payment service has won the GSMA Global Mobile Award 2008 for Best Billing and Customer Care Solution with Airtel at the 13 th Annual GSM Association Global Mobile Awards 2008 at Barcelona.   » Continue Reading

Abhineet Kumar reports from Mumbai for livemint.com on the evolution of mobile banking and payments in India - including the regulatory oversight of that evolution. "Californian mobile payment service provider Obopay Inc. and Bangalore’s mChek India Payment Systems Pvt. Ltd are among a fast-expanding breed of mobile payment service providers which have planned offerings that work within the guidelines and bring the convenience of mobile transactions."

Fair Isaac has announced an alliance with High Mark Credit Information Services of India to introduce Fair Isaac's global-standard FICO credit risk scoring technology to Indian lenders.   » Continue Reading

India's mChek, a provider of mobile security and payments services, has announced the introduction of the "patent-pending mChek Banner, a unique solution that enhances banner advertisements on the Internet into payment-enabled links. The mChek Banner is currently available to all users with pre-paid or post-paid Airtel mobile connections."   » Continue Reading

India's Economic Times reports that "Obopay, the US based pioneer in mobile payment services, on Tuesday said it has signed up with six banks and three mobile telephone providers, including BSNL, for its formal entry into the Indian market."

Rachana Khanzode reports for the Financial Express in India about Atom Cards - a mobile optical payment technique using 2D-bar codes displayed on the mobile handset and captured by the retailer.

mChek has announced that "ICICI Prudential Life Insurance policyholders can now pay their premiums through their mobile phones, anytime and from anywhere. ICICI Prudential is the first life insurance company in the country to launch this unique service facility for its policyholders."   » Continue Reading

The Reserve Bank of India has released its first Report on Oversight of Payment Systems in India . "Though Visa and MasterCard are not under the regulatory purview of the Bank, the Reserve Bank as the regulator and supervisor for banks has published guidelines for the issuance of cards by the card issuing banks. The compliance with the Guidelines is assessed during the inspection of these card issuing banks by the RBI. Also, RBI is in regular dialogue with the Visa and MasterCard affiliates in India."   » Continue Reading

Sanjay Bhargava writes from India: "I am heading a business model sub committee of the Mobile Payment Forum of India. Our report is due Jan 31, 2008. One section of the report is called Global Learnings and the secretary Dr. Mahil Carr who is part of IDRBT (a research institution set up by the Central Bank in India - RBI) is working on this. This is to request any of you who have inputs, case studies, reports etc. that maybe useful to Dr. Carr to send them to him at: mahilcarr@idrbt.ac.in. Here is your chance to influence thinking in India."

EFYtimes.com reports on mChek's introduction of the mChek mobile payments solution for ecommerce merchants.   » Continue Reading

Aniruddha Ghosh writes for India's Economic Times about the work Citi India and mChek are doing in India that enables a variety of services using the mobile phone as a remote customer signature device. "To ensure security, users of such services have a unique passcode which will prevent misuse even if their phone is lost. These transactions operate on a ‘remote signature’ principle, and are validated by one-time PINs generated separately for each transaction."

India's Economic Times reports on the Reserve Bank of India's plans to come out with regulations covering mobile banking. The RBI's draft Financial Sector Technology Vision document is available online. "The large scale spread of mobile telephony has opened up new vistas for banking in the form of mobile banking and the potential in this new sphere is enormous; adequate steps to ensure safety and security in a mobile based computing / communicating environment have to, however, be made."

CyberSource has announced that Jet Airways is the first airline in India to implement an automated online risk management solution. CyberSource is providing its Decision Manager solution to Jet Airways to help streamline online risk management processes and reduce fraud.   » Continue Reading

India's Economic Times examines the growth in usage of payment cards in India - both debit and credit cards. "There are currently 25 million credit cards in India and ICICI Bank is the largest player with 8.5 million cards issued. Citibank, SBI-GE Card and HDFC Bank are the other prominent players in the sector."

The Hindu reports from Bangalore on Airtel's launch of mChek's mobile payment service - enabling Airtel subscribers to pay their mobile phone bills via SMS using mChek.

Mike Hughlett writes for the Chicago Tribune about mobile payment software provider C-SAM and its founder and CEO Sam Pitroda.

Heather Timmons writes for the New York Times about some consumer reactions in India to credit card fees. "Credit card rates and fees frustrate borrowers around the world, but Indian consumers have something special to complain about. Interest rates average more than 30 percent, and can soar to over 50 percent, while charges tacked on for late payments are sometimes a hefty 20 percent of the overall balance."

The Economic Times in India explores mobile payments in that country - saying that "all major banks in India are now entering into tie-ups with companies, facilitating payments through the mobile phone."

Reuters India reports that "electronic transactions in India are set to double in the next three years with the Reserve Bank of India, the banking system, aggregators and merchants pulling out all stops to promote it."

Shriya Bubna reports for India's Business Standard about IndiaPay, a new domestic card payment settlement company that would rival global payment systems Visa and MasterCard. “India Pay would provide national infrastructure to be used with a minimum of cost and allow a wider reach. If we look at it from the perspective of benefits, the costs would be justifiable,” said Sanjay Sharma, chief technology officer, IDBI Bank.

Naushad Contractor writes for Thinking Aloud! about the needs he sees for payment systems to support ecommerce in India. He says "Most of the eCommerce in India is currently conducted using credit cards. However, while the Internet has penetrated rapidly into semi-urban and rural areas, credit card penetration has not quite kept pace, further accentuating the need for an all pervasive, easily available ePayment service."

Express Computer reports on PayMate India's plan to target "offline merchant sign-ups which include large chains to stand-alone retail establishments. SMS has been the platform of choice for online and remote payments so far but the company has now introduced a voice-based module keeping in mind the unique requirements of the retail industry."

Obopay has announced that it is entering the Indian market for mobile payments and has appointed Aditya Menon as chief information and technology officer for India "as part of an international expansion to bring mobile payments to banks, carriers and consumers all over the world."   » Continue Reading

PayMate India has announced it is "now aggressively targeting offline merchant sign-ups which include large chains to stand-alone establishments in any form of retail. SMS has been the driving platform for online and remote payments thus far but the company has now introduced a voice based module specifically keeping in mind the unique requirements of the retail industry."

Anil Mascarenhas of India Infoline has posted an interview with Raj Jain, vice chair and managing director of RS Software, a software solutions provider to a number of clients in the electronic payments space. Jain says RS Software is "in fact the first Indian full-services provider for the electronic payment industry covering Consulting, Enterprise Applications Integration, and Applications Management & Outsourcing."

GE Money has announced that SBI Card, its joint venture with the State Bank of India (SBI), has reached the landmark milestone of 3 million cardholders. The 2nd largest Card issuer in India, SBI Card is unique as the only Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) issuing credit cards in India.   » Continue Reading

Tagit has launched what it says is a first-of-its-kind Mobile Ticketing Service in India.   » Continue Reading

Priyanka Joshi writes from New Delhi for the Business Standard about PayMate's new mobile payment service. Joshi quotes PayMate's founder and managing director Ajay Adieseshann who says he "wants 100 million mobile subscribers, but is aware that critical mass must first be acquired. We are willing to wait - and remain committed to our goal of being the Visa/Electron of the mobile payment world."

NewMedia@Work reports on PayMate India's collaboration with with Citibank and Euronet to launch a mobile payment solution based on premium SMS.   » Continue Reading

Sufia Tippu writes for Australia's ITwire about the burgeoning mobile commerce activity in India where several firms have raised venture capital financing over the last few months.

India's Business Standard reports that "Helion Ventures, a $140 million venture fund jointly started by Sanjeev Aggarwal of Daksh fame, is investing in Bangalore-based mobile commerce firm JiGrahak. JiGrahak, which translates into 'Yes Customer', enables mobile commerce and payments through its platform, NGPay (Next Generation Pay). Once downloaded on to your mobile with this platform you can check schedules and buy airline tickets, movie tickets or order a pizza from your mobile phone. All this comes at no cost to a consumer and the company has built in a revenue model through the merchant establishments."

Puneet Mehrota writes for India's Hindustan Times about mobile commerce in that country. "A small text message has changed it all. When mobile was introduced, not even the biggest telecom expert had predicted the impact of SMS on Indian life. Relationship to reporting to just about every small communication is textual. Now even payments and transactions are done through the SMS. The future is here."

Wells Fargo has announced plans to open a technology resource facility in Hyderabad, India later this year -- citing "a growing need for technology talent that can no longer be supplied solely in the U.S."   » Continue Reading

Moneycontrol.com reports from India on Paymate India's plans to offer its mobile payment service at top restaurants in Mumbai. "We will begin with high-profile restaurants and hip and trendy joints where the customer base is more inclined to take up paying using mobiles," said Mr Ajay Adiseshan, Founder and Managing Director, Paymate India. He says the company will target coffee bars next.

In a column titled "E-wallets useful, but can be risky, too", Sucheta Dalal writes for The Financial Express from India about action taken 10 days ago by the Reserve Bank of India asking a "leading media organisation which had launched India’s first electronic wallet to “desist” from offering the service."   » Continue Reading

Rabin Ghosh reports on Paymate, a mobile commerce startup in India that has secured $5 million in venture funding from two of Silicon Valley’s leading venture capitals firms, Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

India's Times of Money has introduced Wallet365.com, a person-to-person payment service for consumers in India that "lets you pay anyone, anywhere" via email. As with PayPal, Wallet365 emphasizes safety, saying "it secures you from the dangers of online credit card fraud." Funds can be loaded into the account from participating banks for free (except ICICI which is charging a 2% fee) or from a credit card for a 2% fee. Fees also apply for sending money and paying bills but not for receiving money from others.

General Electric Company Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt has announced a US$250 million investment in infrastructure and healthcare projects in India and said that GE intends to dramatically expand its industrial and financial presence in the country.   » Continue Reading

The Financial Express reports on NGPay, a GPRS-based mobile payments application developed by Jigrahak Mobility Solutions.

The Hindu Business Line reports from India on findings of a recent study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) that the " average Indian household in the top 10 cities in the country pays up to 42 bills online annually, most of it to finance, insurance, telecom and utilities companies. And the community of Internet-savvy Indians paying bills online is expected to increase from the current 0.3 million in 2005-06 to 1.8 million by 2007-2008."

I attended a talk at Stanford this afternoon on "Data Privacy" given by Sachin Lodha of the Tata Research Development and Design Centre in Pune, India. The talk was part of Stanford's Security Seminar series.   » Continue Reading

Standard & Poor's Isabelle Sender reports for Business Week on how global banks are rushing to increase their presence in India.   » Continue Reading

SiliconBeat.com from Matt Marshall and Michael Bazeley of the San Jose Mercury News reports on Silicon Valley legendary investors Ram Shriram and John Doerr prowling in India for, among other things, mobile commerce investment opportunities.   » Continue Reading

Sanjeev Devasia reports for MidDay from India about using mobile phone SMS messages to buy a ticket for a local train.   » Continue Reading

India's Business Standard reports on the rapid growth now underway in the number of point of sale terminals in India.

The Hindustan Times reports from Hyderabad on efforts by Bangalore-based Credit Card Holders' Association of India to educate Indian consumers about the risks of credit card debt as Indian and foreign banks are ramping up their credit card marketing efforts in the country.

Vidyalaxmi & Preeti R Iyer report for India's Business Standard on EMV smart card initiatives in India.   » Continue Reading

First Data Corp. has named B. Amrish Rau as country manager for India.   » Continue Reading

Shuchi Vyas reports to India's Economic Times on mobile payments and the expected growth in mobile commerce in India. The article says that mobile commerce is considered to be the next killer application for mobile phones.   » Continue Reading

IndianTelevision.com reports on Visa International's new brand identity and the Reliance Any Time Money Card that will be the first Visa payment product that will have the new Visa brand identity and design in India.   » Continue Reading

Wipro has announced that it is acquiring mPower, a niche payments company based in Princeton, NJ.   » Continue Reading

Prasad Sangameshwaran and Rituparna Chatterjee report for India's Business Standard on the growth in online ecommerce sales in India based on recent research by AC Nielsen.   » Continue Reading

Devangshu Datta reports for Rediff.com on credit card marketing in India.   » Continue Reading

Harsimran Singh reports for India's Financial Express on the importance of financial services and insurance clients to India's IT and business process outsourcing boom.

The Financial Express reports from India on the growth in plastic card payments in India.

The total spend in India on a payment card is still less than 1% of the country’s percentile. This indicates that the growth potential of the payment card industry is enormous. Around 30 million people are eligible for creditcards and 150 million people are eligible for debit cards.

Wells Fargo has announced a new partnership with India's ICICI Bank to offer US to India remittance services.

Sify.com reports on Visa International's plans to introduce new, low cost point of sale terminals in India.   » Continue Reading

The Times of India reports on how Remit2India has begun using PayPal as its instant remittance funds transfer backbone from the US to India.   » Continue Reading

India's Business Standard reports on the Indian credit bureau negative file system being built by the MasterCard-led India Cooperation Committee.   » Continue Reading

George Smith Alexander reports on mobile commerce in India.

"The customers will be able to use their mobile and pay through their debit card/credit card the way they use Internet banking. The customer will be able to authenticate the transaction and he can make bill payments, mobile top-ups and also on-line purchases," says Visa International's regional head consumer and commercial marketing (Asia -Pacific region) Rahul Khosla.

The Business Standard reports from Mumbai on the rapid growth in spending on plastic cards in India.

The Business Standard reports that Visa International introduced the first indigenously developed low-cost point-of-sale (POS) terminal in India. The terminals has been developed by Hyderabad-based Linkwell Telesystems with technical support from Visa.   » Continue Reading

The Business Standard reports that sales volume on Visa cards in India grew over forty percent in the second quarter over the same quarter last year.

The acceptance infrastructure have grown in the country with banks like HDFC bank and ICICI Bank which were the new kids in the block deploying around 30,000 and 10,000 electronic data capture (EDC) terminals in the last one and half years. These terminals were deployed majorly in the smaller towns. The total number of EDC terminals in the country is now at around 70,000.

The Business Standard reports on credit and debit card activities in India.

Says Uttam Nayak, deputy country manager (South Asia), Visa International, "Thirty million people are eligible for credit cards while 130 million bank account holders are eligible for debit cards. That is the potential for growth." Banks expect card usage to grow 100 per cent in the next year. Currently, roughly 55 per cent of credit cards are active. The usage growth will depend on how many outlets accept cards.

Raghu Mohan reports from India on the growth of revolving credit card products and the introduction of debit cards.