Dubbed mSmart and powered by PayMate, the service is aimed mainly at Indian citizens living in underdeveloped and remote areas who can make only cash or cheque payments to their travel agents. mSmart enables customers to make payments for flights, rail or travel packages by using their credit cards through their handsets. The services IVR based transaction platform enables users to enter their credit card information over the IVR call via their handset’s keypad in order to complete the transaction process. PayMate connects the transaction directly with the respective bank to verify and confirm the payment status. mSmart, which has been made available to almost 5,000 travel agents and 11,000 travel outlets, is compatible with simpler devices and can function across all operators without requiring GPRS.
In August 2009, PayMate entered an agreement with DirectPay, a bank-neutral payment gateway solution from India-based online money transfer services developer TimesofMoney to provide merchants across India with a mobile payment facility.
Editors notes: In the context of mobile payments still gathering pace in India, accessible services like mSmart which do not require GPRS or software downloads, are likely to catch on with consumers interested in an alternative to cash/cheque/credit cards, thus turning the mobile channel into a significant way to reach and serve certain customer segments across India.
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