With the aim of integrating all mobile payment systems under one umbrella, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has sought for an approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to make the mobile payments services by telecom companies like Airtel Money and m-wallet services offered by banks, interconnect, reports PTI (via IBNLive). Interestingly, the NPCI intends to deploy a solution bridging the two platforms. Presently, mobile payments services such as Airtel Money and ZipCash are restricted to semi-closed wallets which don't allow money to be withdrawn from the wallet. Mobile operators acting as banking correspondents, need to enroll customers into no-frill accounts, and allow money transfer in particular remittance corridors, facilitating cash-outs for beneficiaries through service outlets. So it's not that simple to transfer and cash-out money via mobile platforms. The NPCI offers mobile money transfers on its Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) platform for 39 banks, however, participating Banks require customers to download their own mobile banking apps, in order to access IMPS. For example, ICICI Bank customers can only use IMPS through its iMobile app, whereas HDFC Bank customers need the NGPay app to avail the service. So, if the two payment products are made inter operable, it could actually lead to more transactions on mobile, and give a boost to m-commerce, as merchant payments can also be integrated. However, we're not sure if the RBI would be keen on allowing telcos to operate open wallets, since it could allow them to compete with banks at a certain level.…
