MUMBAI: Mastercard is scouting for new opportunities in India. The payments company is eyeing the $50-billion inward remittance market and is also
registering its presence in mobile banking.

Some banks have joined hands with MasterCard for an inward-remittance product which will allow a worker based in say the UAE to send money to India using his MasterCard. The money transferred will be credited to a MasterCard account in India, which can be either a debit or a credit card account. “In this case, customers on both sides have bank accounts. The transactions can be done on a real time basis and we can provide the service at a much cheaper cost. Also checks and controls can be maintained,” points Joshua L Peirez, group executive, innovative platforms, MasterCard.

Globally, India is the largest recipient of inward remittances which is effected through money transfer agents and banks. Banks take around a day to a month, depending on the choice of service. MasterCard, currently, has this remittance product in 18 countries, across South East Asia, the Middle East and the US.

MasterCard is also betting on mobile banking picking up in the country. It already has launched a mobile product in the US where a customer using his mobile can transfer money to any other mobile within minutes. The telephone number, however, is the unique ID number. It also supports an SMS-based system. MasterCard plans to launch this product in other countries, too, depending on regulatory approval.

MasterCard which came out with its third quarter results, on Thursday, said that India saw a growth of 49% on dollar value and 31% rise in the number of cards compared with the year before.

MasterCard along with Citi, Nokia and Vodafone are doing a pilot project in Bangalore where customers can use their mobiles to make contactless payments via RFID. The contactless payment platform will be enabled through a chip on the phone itself, which will enable the customer to make a payment without having to swipe a card.

This will, ofcourse, require the merchants to install a separate RFID-detecting device on their POS machines, which will read the chip. “RFID systems are being tested across the world, but in India where costs are an issue, it is unlikely that such a system will take off. I am definitely not a big fan of this particular technology,” said Ajay Adiseshann, MD and founder of PayMate, a leading mobile-payments provider in India.