Indian banking majors SBI, Axis Bank and Yes Bank are reportedly planning to launch their own mobile wallets to compete with pre-paid issuers like Paytm and MobiKwik, who attract customers with easy payment option and retail offerings.
The banks expect to launch their respective mobile wallets within the next few months, The Economic Times reported citing unnamed sources.
The m-wallet eliminates the multiple layers in a transaction by electronically storing the bank details of customers.
Sources told the publication that the banks are looking to collaborate with merchants and e-commerce sites to launch their m-wallets.
Axis Bank president and head retail lending and payments Jairam Sridharan said: "The growth is so dramatic that everybody, including banks, are going to participate in it…We don’t know whether this is a passing phase or this is going to continue. So you are going to see everyone create their own wallet."
A spokesperson for Yes Bank said that its m-wallet can be used not only on smartphones but also on Facebook.
"Yes Bank’s wallet is designed in a way that the users can send and request money from any of the Facebook friend or phone book contacts. Also, users can split bills among themselves… Among other things, it would facilitate railway bookings and toll payments," he added.
Till date, ICICI Bank is the only Indian bank that has launched its own m-wallet, which has been downloaded by one million handset users.