Visa partners with ICICI, HDFC

MANILA, Philippines - Visa Inc. and Movida has partnered with India’s largest bank ICICI Bank to expand its mobile payments service. Last year, the mobile payments company launched also partnered with India’s second largest bank, HDFC. With the addition of ICICI, Movida will be able to reach more Indian consumers. “Our goal is to digitize the use of money instead of using cash,” said Sam Shawki, global head of mobile remote payments. “Movida enables you to do things remotely, regardless of whether it’s a smartphone or not, you can pay your bill, you can top up your account with money, you can top up a friend’s account with money, without having to travel across villages and stand in long lines.” Mobile payment is available on smartphones and feature phones. It is also available for any payment card. Consumers can pay via SMS, phone calls, USSD and a Web portal. The company plans to roll out a mobile application as well in the near future. As of now, Movida lets consumers pay for services such as mobile account, utility bills, movie tickets and train tickets. The company plans to expand to more services such as traffic tickets and retirement plan payments. When consumers link their payment card to their phone number that is registered with ICICI bank, they will receive a unique PIN number to ensure secure transactions.