ICICI Bank, one of the largest private lenders in the country has become the first institution across the world to launch the mVisa. This is a card-less as well as device-less solution that the payments company is betting on when it comes to the mobile space. The mVisa application has been integrated in the ICICI Bank’s Pockets application that allows making the payments by simple scanning a QR code and keying in the amount.
Rajiv Sabharwal, the Execute Director at the ICICI Bank stated that the biggest incentive for the merchants to accept the mVisa payment is there is absolutely zero investment. The merchant has to just retain the printed static QR code that will be scanned by the customers via the Pockets application. The next step is to enter the amount followed by the ATM pin. Then, the money will be instantly transferred to the account of the merchant. The mVisa is a digital only payment solution that was developed by Visa International.
In order to launch the mVisa digital payment solution, ICICI Bank has partnered with almost 1,500 merchants in Bengaluru. The financial institution is also in plans to ramp up this number to around 15,000 that is ten folds higher in just a couple of months. Following ICICI Bank, the other financial institutions such as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India are also in plans to incorporate mVisa in their respective mobile applications.
Apart from being a card-less as well as a device-less digital payment solution, the mVisa system is interoperable. This means that a merchant who takes in the mVisa payments of a bank can also accept the payments from another bank that joins this network.
When the mVisa payment solution was announced, it was stated that the customers can download the application to their feature or smart devices. They can also link their Visa credit, debit or prepaid accounts to this application.
