Friday: 23 Sept 2011:

Hold On: It’s NOT payment by mobile banking, it is really payment done by mobile! Yes, the mobile phones can act as credit card, they just need to be taken close to the reader instrument, instead of swiping a card.

This is enabled by NFC technology, it is ‘Near Field Communication’ methodology for 2 devices which are physically close to each other. Shoppers who have their credit card information stored in their NFC smartphones can pay for purchases by waving their smartphones near or tapping them on the reader, rather than bothering with the actual credit card. And this is no more in research phase, it has been tested and brought in market. Here is recent news from Google – LINK. This has been already in use in France and has now also begun to wide spread in US and even spreading to other countries also. Though it is available in costly phone for now, I hope soon it will be productized in cheaper cell phones as well.

Thanks to these technological advances that it is enabling ease of banking transactions. On the other hand VISA has already promised for payment cards for all UIDIA (Aadhar) registered people. Altogether for India, it seems a very bright future for increase use of banking transactions and for reducing cash transactions, which have proved very fatal for India. Importance of having more and more banking transactions can be seen from
1.Effects of weak banking system - LINK
2.Effects of high denomination currency - LINK

Author:
Bhushan Patil