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iKaaz in pact with DCB Bank to offer nearfield communication payment solutions

NEW DELHI: Bangalore-based mobile payments solutions provider iKaaz has tied up with DCB Bank to offer tap and pay mobile payment which will allow consumers to perform cashless transactions across various retailers in India, even as mobile phone users slowly take to cashless micro payments through mobile wallets.

The strategic tie-up with the bank will allow iKaaz’s service to perform like an open wallet, into which cash can be loaded, used at retail points and taken out when required, said chief executive officer and founder Soma Sundaram, a former Nokia Money team member.

The solution will work on nearfield communication (NFC) technology that enables a smartphone to send information to another by taping the devices. NFC allows a consumer to use the mobile phone as a wallet to make payments and purchases on the same lines as Apple Pay.

NFC feature is found mostly on high-end smartphones but iKaaz makes NFC tags, available for Rs 40, which can be installed on any smartphone enabling them to transmit information. In this case, the phone becomes a wallet to perform money-based transactions at retail points that also have the tap and pay facility.

Sundaram said that the company was selling NFC installed point-ofsale device for Rs 2,500 for retailers for accepting payments by tapping the mobile phone on the device. “The solution can work as an app model which rests on the phone or through the NFC card, which is highly secure,” he added. Merchants can also provide m-pins to consumers to secure high-ticket purchases.

The company has over 7,500 merchants, including hotels, restaurants, kirana stores and telecom stores which accept cashless payments through iKaaz’s NFC cards.

iKaaz recently tied up Bangalorebased fast food joint Adiga’s and launched a closed loop payment system where customers were issued NFC cards mapped to their phones for making wireless micropayments for their orders. Earlier this year, the company introduced NFC-based payments in Nigeria in partnership with the country’s FCMB Bank.

On a daily basis, a person can make transactions worth Rs 10,000 a day and up to Rs 100,000 a month, as per Indian regulations. Sundaram said that the transaction amounts will increase as federal laws on mobile payments evolve.

Consumer can register by themselves or by a merchant using their mobile number and can purchase the NFC tag or the card from merchants and link it to the mobile number.

Then consumers can load cash to the wallet by cash or by transferring from one’s bank account.

“We are talking to medium to large scale retailers to implement this system even though the solution is equally useful for small scale retailers,” Sundaram added.

Source: ETTelecom

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