Another company that is keen to get a piece of the pie is Nokia. The handset manufacturer has started shipping mobile phones in India preloaded with its banking application, based on the Obopay mobile payment platform, in a deal with the Union Bank of India.
Considering India’s sheer seize as well as geographic and cultural diversity, it’s hard to imagine a national mobile payment scheme in India any time soon as we find in smaller countries like Austria today.
I would rather expect a number of payment ecosystems to co-exist for a significant period of time, until regional leaders emerge, possibly along historical and cultural fault lines.
It’ll be also interesting to see if any home grown players founded by India’s well educated and entrepreneurially minded IT community will be able to capture significant market share.
One thing is certain: As India cements its position as an economic powerhouse on the world stage, greater financial inclusion via the mobile channel will have a positive flow on effect on productivity, innovation and living standards.
Tarik Husain is business development director for mCommerce at Sybase 365. For more information go to http://blogs.sybase.com/mobilecommerce/