Micromax partners Visa, TranServ for pushing m-commerce

Domestic handset maker is relying heavily on payments as part of its overall service strategy

Domestic handset maker Micromax will now integrate a new wallet offering, powered by Visa and TranServ, for its smartphone users as it looks to beef up its services business.

The Gurgaon-based firm, which had partnered TranServ in December last year, is relying heavily on payments as part of its overall service strategy.

"Payment is very critical to the overall service strategy for Micromax. Almost all the new smartphone products will have this wallet as natively integrated in them. Existing users of Micromax smartphones will also get this upgrade," Micromax co-founder Vikas Jain told PTI.

He added the company has partnered Visa and TranServ to offer unique digital solutions specifically designed to meet the demands of the "mobile-first" Indian consumers.

"VISA brings together the merchant ecosystem and TranServ takes care of the technical aspect, while Micromax already has strong service ecosystem and user base in place to use this service," he said.

Using the proposed payment solutions, Micromax users will be able to use mobile-based push payments using mVisa and make eCommerce payments on merchant and social media applications as well as interpersonal payments to personal contacts.

In the future, the companies will also look at launching mobile contactless payments in physical locations through NFC (near-field communications).

"The payment solutions will soon be available to Micromax smartphone users through the Udio app," he said.

Udio is a digital wallet enabled by TranServ. It allows consumers to shop using a Visa card number linked to the underlying prepaid wallet, wherever Visa is accepted.

"Digital payments is clearly an important part of our digital experience and services strategy. We are looking to provide an all pervasive payments layer to our services ecosystem enabling digitalisation of the lifestyles of our consumers," he said.

Chris Clark, Group Executive (Asia Pacific) at Visa, said mobile payments are part of the future of payments and their rapid adoption will be instrumental in helping India move towards a cashless society.

"With India being the world's fastest-growing smartphone market, we have a significant opportunity to combine the power, reach and security of the Visa network, with the strengths of our partners Micromax and TranServ, to create payment solutions tailored to local market needs," he added.

TranServ co-founder and CEO Anish Williams said the company is building solutions that will contribute towards a holistic and secure payments ecosystem.