My Mobile Payments plans to tie up with IRCTC, airlines

Now you can book movie, bus, rail and air tickets using your mobile wallet (M-wallet).

My Mobile Payments Ltd (MMPL), which retails M-wallet services, plans to tie up with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC), various airlines as well as multiplex operators to offer booking services to its customers.

M-wallet service, provided under the ‘Money-on-Mobile’ brand, is like a prepaid debit card on mobile. It allows customers to load their mobile phones with cash at retail touch points and use this virtual money to top-up any prepaid mobile or DTH (satellite television) recharge or pay post-paid mobile bills and utility bills at present.

According to Shashank M. Joshi, Managing Director, MMPL, a larger bouquet of offerings will be rolled out by September 15.

The company claims to have a network of 95,000 retailers across the country and a subscriber base of nearly five lakh recording nearly Rs 2 crore worth of transactions a day.

MMPL now plans to expand the retailer base to 5 lakh in next two years. The over-900 million mobile phone subscriber base provides an opportunity for business growth, he pointed out.
Business model

Based on the demand for each of its service, MMPL typically buys out the inventory of the companies it ties up with, in advance.

“During long weekends, the demand for our services increase manifold, so our investment on inventory also increases,” he said.

MMPL, Joshi said, was well capitalised to invest on inventories. The company recently received a strategic investment of around $29.7 million (little over Rs 150 crore at current exchange rate) from US-based Calpian.

Depending on the kind of services provided, the company earns a margin of 2.5-4 per cent.

shobha.roy@thehindu.co.in