From cash to cheques to credit card to electronic transfers to, well, mobile phones. Imagine paying for music or diner or movie tickets through your mobile phone. A handful of service providers are pushing transactions over the mobile phones, one of which is Paymate. The company has tied up with Citibank to offer this service to the bank’s account holders and credit card customers. If you are a Citibank customer, you have to register with Paymate and get a PIN, which acts as your password.
When you transact, you give your mobile number to the merchant establishment. The merchant will send you an SMS, asking for payment. You forward that SMS to Paymate, along with your PIN. Once Paymate clears the transaction, it will send the confirmation to the merchant establishment. All this happens instantly and the only cost you incur is that of the SMS you send to Paymate.
At present, Citibank is Paymate’s only partner bank, though it plans to tie-up with 14 more banks soon.
Source: Indian Express
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