Forget cards, now shop all you want using your cellphone

Airtel subscribers in the city no longer need to fumble through their wallets for their credit or debit cards to make a payment. Paying for a transaction is now as simple as dialing a number from your mobile. For, the telecom giant has chosen Gurgaon as th31CELL.TIMin India for the launch of Airtel Money, a mobile wallet service.

The service, which was launched in Gurgaon on Monday, enables a consumer to pay their utility bills, recharge their accounts, shop, book tickets and even pay for their groceries.

Airtel Money will subsequently be launched in Delhi-NCR and other cities in India in a phased manner.

Announcing the launch of the service, Atul Bindal, president, mobile services, said, Airtel Money transforms the mobile phone into a secure and convenient wallet, in which customers can load money and use it for shopping and making payments. We are sure that this service will bring about a paradigm shift in the way consumers transact in India.

Airtel was granted the license to use the semi-closed wallet by the Reserve Bank of India in 2010, Bindal added.

In Gurgaon, the telecom company has already established partnerships with several merchants (including coffee shops, restaurants etc) to accept payments via Airtel Money. This partnership would gradually be scaled up to over 3,000 merchants across the city, said a spokesperson.

A maximum daily limit of Rs 5,000 has been fixed for transactions via Airtel Money. Subscribers can recharge their Airtel Money account just the way they recharge their pre-paid cards by visiting the nearest dealer.

While new Airtel connections will be available with pre-loaded Airtel Money services, existing subscribers can register themselves by filling an application form along with proofs of identity and residence.

For making payments through mobile, sunscribers need to go to the Airtel Money application on their SIM card and select the merchant to which they want to make the payment. All transactions (payments, account enquiry etc.) would need to be authorized by entering a four-digit password.