Soon, Indians won’t need smartphones for mobile money transfers

Friday, June 13, 2014

You may soon cease to require a smartphone or internet connection for mobile banking; you will be able to transfer money from your bank account to another even with a basic handset.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley might next month launch mobile banking services for people not using smartphones. The move is aimed at pushing financial inclusion in India and bringing down banks’ cost of servicing clients.

Such a service will also reduce the transaction cost for those bank customers who are forced to visit a branch every time they have to transfer money from an account to another as they do not have smartphones or internet access.

For every transaction through this service, a customer will be charged Rs 1.50, which will be deducted from his airtime. This will hardly entail any cost for the bank. By comparison, according to some estimates, when a customer walks into a branch, a bank has to bear a cost of up to Rs 200; in the case of an ATM transaction, the cost comes to Rs 20.

Source: Business Standard (link opens in a new window)

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financial inclusion