Airtel ropes in Infosys for mobile wallet service

Leading telecom service provider Bharati Airtel has selected IT bellwether Infosys Ltd to manage its 'mobile wallet' service across the country, enabling cashless payments and money transfers.

'Infosys will be our technology partner to offer the mobile wallet service, enabling cashless payments and money transfers across the country to our diverse customer segments,' Bharti chief executive Sanjay Kapoor said in a statement Monday.

As part of the multi-year deal, both the partners will jointly create a business model for m-commerce and offer customers a secure environment for cashless transactions using Infosys' WalletEdge mobile commerce platform.

'As core platform, Infosys' Finacle Digital Commerce will provide the ecosystem for card issuers, merchants, financial and retail institutions to offer customers a range of payment options for their transactions,' Kapoor said.

The platform will also enable 'Airtel money' customers to pay bills, recharge accounts, shop at over 7,000 merchant outlets, transact online through multiple channels, including mobile phones, interactive voice response, ATMs (automatic teller machines) and point-of-sale.

As the country's first-of-its-kind mobile wallet service, Airtel money will empower customers to transfer money instantly and play a key role in achieving financial inclusion.

'Infosys was selected for its technical capabilities and credentials, especially in the financial sector. We will offer a compelling proposition to our customers to accept Airtel money as a way of life,' Kapoor added.

Noting that the game-changing mobile commerce platform will empower millions of Airtel customers to make cashless transactions, Infosys chief financial executive V. Balakrishnan said the novel service would unleash new market opportunities for Bharti in the digital commerce space.

'As a scalable platform, WalletEdge will be able to support millions of transactions annually in a secure environment. Delivered through a private cloud, it creates a shared services framework to allow members of the ecosystem to process payment instructions seamlessly and cost efficiently,' Balakrishnan added.