It's been five months since they announced the partnership, and now Vodafone India today announced the official launch of its M-Pesa mobile money transfer and payment service in India, in partnership with ICICI Ban. The service is initially being launched in Eastern India, and is being offered in Kolkata, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand through over 8300 authorized agents. The national rollout will be in a phased manner, and M-Pesa will allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash from designated outlets, transfer money to any mobile phone in India, remit money to any bank account in India, make payments to recharge mobile, clear utility bills, DTH service subscription, shop at select shops and use it for e-commerce/m-commerce. In response to a query from MediaNama for a list of merchants for e-commerce/m-commerce, a Vodafone India spokesperson said that they can't yet share a list since this is a work in progress. It's worth noting that m-Pesa for Vodafone India is essentially bank led - unlike Kenya, where it began as an alternative to banking, in India, it's had to go through regulatory compliance requirements which essentially mandate that it be backed by a bank account. Back in 2009, Vodafone had mentioned difficulty in launching M-Pesa in India because, as Nick Hughes, then Vodafone's head of mobile payments had said, "Regulators won’t allow any mobile payment scheme. India has said you have to be a licensed bank." Customers will have to visit an M-Pesa agent outlet, fill up a form, provide identity…
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