Taxi-hailing smartphone app Uber to launch mobile wallet in India

Thursday, November 13, 2014

MUMBAI: The taxi-hailing smartphone app Uber will launch a mobile wallet in India after its payment mechanism came under the RBI scanner for flouting the mandatory two-step verification on card transactions earlier this year. The much-storied San Francisco-headquartered startup is tying up with Paytm to offer the services of a semi-closed wallet to Indian consumers, a first anywhere in the world. The wallet will work through a mobile app and will let riders pay for their trips without using cash, a company executive told TOI.

The ride app expects to reach a wider set of population in India through the Paytm wallet which can be topped up with a credit card, debit card or even through a customer’s netbanking account. “We are super bullish about India and therefore investing in customizing our product to cater to the local market. The wallet will help us expand aggressively to smaller cities,” Allen Penn, Asia head of Uber, told TOI. Since the launch of its cheaper line of Uber X, the cab startup has registered more than 40% month-on-month growth, Penn said. “We will continue to tailor make offerings and products for India seeing the exponential growth here,” he said.

Source: Times of India (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Technology
Tags
cash transfers, financial inclusion