You may have heard of the recent moves by the Indian government to clamp on cash payments with the view of dealing with corruption and minimising revenue leakages as a result of the black market. The demonetization efforts have seen the government eliminate lower denominated legal tenders and instead promote plastic money or electronic payments, which will allow India to transition into a cash-lite economy.
Keen to take advantage of this transition, Vodafone India has announced the launch of M-Pesa Pay, a solution targeting merchants and retailers by allowing them to receive payments from customers. Merchants will download the M-Pesa App and then notify customers to use it to pay for purchases they make. Customers with the App will, on the other hand, have the ability to make payments using their wallet balance, bank account, credit card, or debit card.
The announcement of the solution falls right into Vodafone’s plans to make M-Pesa a global phenomenon which it has fostered in the recent past through partnerships. At the 2016 Mobile World Congress, Vodafone signed multiple deals which will put M-Pesa’s payment technology in the hands of hundreds of millions of users. The most prominent of these deals was with PayPal where paypal account holders will soon send money directly to M-Pesa account holders across the world. The integration will take place through Xoom, a payment service acquired by PayPal in 2014 for $800 Million. Xoom allows its users to make international remittances via PayPal. The other partnership announced was with TransferTo, a Singapore based remittance firm to provide M-Pesa transfers. TransferTo has a presence in 100 countries, partnerships with over 1,000 financial institutions and 400 mobile operators. This gives the company access to over 4.5 Billion users who could potentially use it.
The most prominent of these deals was with PayPal where PayPal account holders will soon send money directly to M-Pesa account holders across the world. The integration will take place through Xoom, a payment service acquired by PayPal in 2014 for $800 Million. Xoom allows its users to make international remittances via PayPal. The other partnership announced was with TransferTo, a Singapore-based remittance firm to provide M-Pesa transfers. TransferTo has a presence in 100 countries, partnerships with over 1,000 financial institutions and 400 mobile operators. This gives the company access to over 4.5 Billion users who could potentially use it.
Mastercard through its subsidiary HomeSend announced a partnership with Vodafone to allow for remittance services into five new markets including Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Albania. Vodafone through Vodafone Sales and Services Ltd (VSSL) owns proprietary rights to the M-Pesa platform and earns service fees accrued from the use of the mobile money transfer solution.
