Telecom Lead India: Axis Bank and Federal Bank have
joined the mobile banking bandwagon.
Axis Bank has entered into a tie-up with UAE Exchange and
Financial Services to launch inward remittances through mobile.
Federal Bank announced a tie-up with Saudi Arabia-based
Samba Bank for inbound remittances which can be collected by the beneficiary
through any of the bank’s 976 branches in the country.
As part of the association between Axis Bank and UAE
Exchange, people can send money through any agent locations of UAE Exchange and
Financial Services called Xpress Money to a registered mobile number in the
country.
Xpress Money has 135,000 agent locations operational in 125 countries.
The recipient has to register at any Axis Bank branch once and can withdraw the
money sent from any Axis Bank ATMs with the help of codes sent to their
registered mobile number.
“This solution will help customers eliminate the need to visit physical
agents and provide documentation every time they receive a money
transfer,” said P Mukherjee, president and head of treasury and
international banking of Axis Bank.
A beneficiary can receive a maximum of 30 transactions in a calendar year and
the maximum amount one can receive is presently capped at Rs 18,000, per
remittance transaction.
For Federal Bank, this is the 68th such tie-up the bank has stitched with
financial institutions in the Gulf region having significant population from
the diaspora.
India leads mobile banking adoption at 76%, ahead of China
India is leading in terms of the mobile banking adoption
at 76 percent, followed by China. Germany, with a 24 percent adoption rate, and
Canada at 18 percent have the lowest rate of adoption.
In fact, among major operators, Airtel is spearheading
the mobile money service in India.
Bharti Airtel expands airtel mobile money service to 300 cities
in India
Recently, Bharti Airtel, through its subsidiary Airtel M
Commerce Services (AMSL), has expanded airtel money, a mobile wallet
service, to 300 key cities in India. The national availability of airtel
money follows the success of service’s first phase of launch in Delhi NCR
and Chennai in 2011.
While an estimated 240 million people across India hold
bank accounts, more than 90 percent of country’s population uses cash to
pay for its daily needs. A majority of customers continue to rely on
traditional or time consuming methods like money orders and cheque remittances
when it comes to transferring funds.
editor@telecomlead.com
