Close on the the heels of MasterCard launching a digital wallet for Citibank India customers, rival global payments gateway Visa will be starting a new payments service for Indian customers in September, reports IANS. Visa chief executive Charlie Scharf said that the company will begin a pilot of the service in Bangalore and has tied up with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India for the launch. The service called mVisa will allow consumers can make cardless purchases, pay bills and send money to friends and family members. Initially, mVisa will be available to 20,000 merchants in the greater Bangalore region, the company said in a release. How it works - Customers will be able to download the mVisa application to their smart or feature phone and link their Visa debit, credit or prepaid account to application. - Once activated, mVisa enables consumers to pay for purchases in stores and online by simply initiating a transfer of funds from their account to the merchant’s account. Additionally, mVisa users will be able to pay bills and send funds to other Visa account holders. - Transactions are processed via Visa’s global network, VisaNet. Merchants and billers are instantly notified via SMS text message when a payment has been received. Technology centre in Bangalore Visa also added that it is adding a technology centre in Bangalore as part of its strategy to transform Visa’s global processing network into an open commerce platform. The Bangalore centre will employ 1,000 developers and the team will be tasked with making it…
