Reliance Jio and Sodexo have announced a partnership where they will allow Sodexo Meal cards to be integrated into a user’s Jio wallet. Sodexo offers employee benefits via a prepaid card that can be redeemed at retailers and food outlets.
Sodexo cards are generally provided by employers to their employees as part of their salary benefits. These cards can be used at grocery stores, restaurants and cafeterias. Consumers will now be able to link the Sodexo Meal Pass with mobile app JioMoney for making payments to these vendors, according to Jio.
As per a statement released by the companies, consumers do not have to carry the Sodexo’s physical card for the purchase of food and non-alcoholic beverages as they can “add the Sodexo Meal Card balance to the JioMoney app and start transacting on-the-go”.
The solution has already been launched in Mumbai. The JioMoney solution will be enabled at all Sodexo accepting merchants nationally over a period of time, the statement added.
Sodexo’s footprint and partnerships
The company claims to have over 3 million daily consumers in India across over 1,500 cities in India and nearly 100,000 points of acceptance. Sodexo is a 100% digital company.
To expand its digital footprint, Sodexo launched a gift and rewards card called Premium Pass in August 2017, targeted at employees of organizations. Premium Pass is an open loop card and can be used at any merchant which accepts RuPay. In June 2017, it tied-up with point-of-sale (POS) terminal deploying company Innoviti Payments Solutions to expand the network of outlets. Sodexo also partnered with PoS provider Mswipe to make Sodexo’s Meal Card valid at some Mswipe merchants like grocery stores, restaurants, cafes and food delivery services.
Jio Payments Bank launch
Earlier this month, Jio Payments Bank started its operations, making it the sixth payments bank to roll out after the central bank gave its in-principle approval to 11 applicants in August 2015. Jio Payments Bank Ltd is a 70-30 joint venture between Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. and India’s largest lender State Bank of India.
Other payments banks that are currently in operation include Airtel Payments Bank Ltd, India Post Payments Bank Ltd, Paytm Payments Bank Ltd, Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Ltd and Fino Payments Bank Ltd.
