The total value of transactions made in India through Airtel Money, the company's mobile payments business, for the quarter ended December 31st 2013, grew 89.34% to Rs 1238.3 crore for the quarter ended 31st December 2013, up from Rs 654 crore reported for the previous sequential quarter, ended 30th September 2013. This is despite a 7.14% decline in active user base for the company, which reduced to 1.3 million from 1.4 million. The total number of transactions increased to 28.69% to 30.5 million, and average value per transaction grew substantially to Rs 406 per transaction, up 47%. This might be down to Airtel Money's tie-up with the National Payments Corporation of India to offer mobile based Money Transfer through IMPS, or perhaps to the launch of the Airtel Money application, which the company says saw 45,000 downloads in the first 2 months. Last quarter (ending September 30th 2013), Airtel tied-up with North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (NBPDCL) to offer mobile-based electricity bill payments through airtel money across 21 districts of North Bihar. Airtel Money In Africa Airtel is likely to be encouraged by the performance of Airtel Money in Africa, where the average value per transaction was $ 23.4. During the quarter, the total value of transactions made using this platform in Africa was $1713 million, double of the $867 reported last quarter. Airtel’s m-commerce offering is now present across all 17 countries it operates in Africa, and this quarter, it increased marketing spends in order to push for user adoption and usage.…
