Citi brings NFC mobile payments to India

Customers will experience the convenience of using their mobile phone as a credit card with Citi launching its 'Citi Tap and Pay' here, bringing to India the 'contactless credit card payment system.'  

It is based on Near Field Communications (NFC) technology in collaboration with Nokia, Vodafone, MasterCard and VIVOtech.  

"The launch of Citi Tap and Pay pilot service will be one of the world's largest pilots ever undertaken, establishing a fully secure scalable and interoperable mobile payments ecosystem in Bangalore," Jeff Semenchuk, executive vice-president and head of growth ventures, Citi Innovation told reporters today.   

The technology will allow customers to tap their mobile phone on a contactless reader at the point of sale to pay for purchases, eliminating the need for traditional swiping of credit cards, he said.    

The service also does away with the need for customers to send SMS or incur mobile data charges to make these payments, Jeff said.     

Nokia will support the service with its NFC-enabled Nokia 6212 classic phones, replacing the multitude of cards in consumer wallets. Vodafone is the mobile network operator for the pilot service while MasterCard will offer its MasterCard PayPass contactless payment and security infrastructure. 

ViVOtech is providing the underlying technology including the NFC wallet, the Over-the-Air (OTA) card provisioning software, the mobile coupon application in addition to contactless readers that participating merchants will use to accept payments, N Rajashekaran, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citi India, said.    

Citi Tap and Pay customers will use the new NFC-capable Nokia N 6212 classic phone which they can purchase at designated Nokia stores, pre-loaded with the Citi Tap and Pay application enabled with MasterCard's PayPass contactless payment technology, he said.    

They will then be able to securely execute an Over-The-Air  download of their Citibank MasterCard credit card on to their mobile phone. Once personalised, their credit card on the phone is ready and the customers can use the phone to make Tap and Pay trasactions at locations displaying Citi Tap and Pay and MasterCrd PayPass acceptance marks, Rajashekaran said.   

Citi Tap and Pay transactions are absolutely secure and require a PIN validation. The contactless payment transactions will be automatically charged to a customer's Citibank MasterCard card account.   

"Out of Citibank's four lakh customers in Bangalore, we are looking at 5,000 for this pilot project which will continue for six months", Rajashekaran said.      

NFC-Capable Nokia N 6212 priced at Rs 11,650 is available to Citibank's customers at an inaugural offer of Rs 5,000.