Andhra customers can now pay power bills through mobiles

"Mee Seva-Airtel Money platform is a unique citizen-centric service initiative that makes payments of utility bills much easier," state Information Technology Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah said while launching the initiatives aimed at "expanding e-governance".

With the launch, Andhra Pradesh has become the first state in India to move citizen payment services to the mobile platform which will enable customers to pay electricity bills to begin with, he said.

The state government also unveiled an integrated portal for information and services of 'Mee Seva'--the electronically delivered citizen services ---and general services of 'eseva', wherein payment of a range of citizen services can be done through 'meeseva.Gov.In'.

Bharti Airtel (Andhra Pradesh) CEO Sharlin Thayil said the service was initially launched in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, and will soon be extended to other geographies while more services will also be brought under the special measure.

This service works on any basic mobile phone and there are over 1,000 retail points in the city where customers can load cash in their "mobile wallets," he added.

IT Secretary Sanjay Jaju said all bill payments can also be done through 'meeseva.Gov.In'. Payments can be made using credit and debit cards and through Internet-banking using services of 30 banks and cash card, he said.