Soon, your smartphone to double up as a debit, credit card

Customers can link their cards to banks' app and make payments after scanning a 'quick response' code

Soon, you won’t need to carry your debit or credit card around for shopping. Payment solutions company Visa has launched a service that lets individuals link their cards to their banks’ app and make payments by scanning the quick response (QR) code merchant provided in its electronic draft capture machine (EDCM).

If you order a service or food to be delivered home, you can scan the QR code in the delivery boy’s mobile and pay for it using your debit or credit card. The same can be done at a petrol pump or at a retail outlet.

ICICI Bank has started testing the service, called mVisa, in Bengaluru. Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, and State Bank will start soon, according to Visa.

If you are an ICICI Bank customer, you will need to download its wallet app, Pockets, and sign up. Once you log in, select the mVisa icon to link debit card to the mVisa account and you are good to go. When you want to make a payment, the merchant will produce the EDCM. As soon as you start the app, your phone’s camera will initiate. Scan the QR code, enter the amount to be paid, key in your card PIN, and confirm the payment.

T R Ramachandran, group country manager, India and South Asia, Visa, says the payment solution is designed to help banks sign up a large number of small and remotely located merchants rapidly. “We are hoping that mVisa will help to grow the electronic payment acceptance footprint in India in a very short period of time.”

Bhavin Mody, director, E-billing Solutions, says the service acts like a repository of cards and eliminates the need for entering the PIN on the machine. “It may not be revolutionary but offers customers more choice of payments. The success also depends on mobile internet connectivity.”

Jonathan Kaftzan, product marketing director (mobile financial services) at US-headquartered Amdocs, says a QR code-based payment is a known and simple mechanism that has been around for some time. Starbucks has been using it for some time in the US, and is successful. He feels mobile payment solutions using near-field communication (NFC) technology is more secure, as these stores the details in the phone, and is also more popular internationally with likes of Apple and Samsung using it.

Ramachandran says in future, mVisa will also support NFC, bluetooth low energy, and newer methods as they evolve. “Increasingly, QR codes are being used for payment transaction both in India and other markets given the versatility of this technology,” he says.

Experts say while payment through a QR code eliminates the need to enter your password, they are as secure as the regular debit and credit card transaction. Kaftzan says scanning is the last point of transaction. The main security issues lay with the bank and payment solutions companies, which should have enough security for their data and follow usage pattern of the cardholder to detect fraud. Also, the person needs to keep the phone secure, with PIN and biometrics.