The Hindu Business Line : Citi brings NFC mobile payments to India

BANGALORE: Customers will experience the convenience of using their mobile phone as a credit card with Citi launching its 'Citi Tap and Pay' here, bringing to India the 'contactless credit card payment system.'

It is based on Near Field Communications (NFC) technology in collaboration with Nokia, Vodafone, MasterCard and VIVOtech. “The launch of Citi Tap and Pay pilot service will be one of the world's largest pilots ever undertaken, establishing a fully secur e scalable and interoperable mobile payments ecosystem in Bangalore'', Mr Jeff Semenchuk, Executive Vice-President and Head of Growth Ventures, Citi Innovation told reporters here on Tuesday.

The technology will allow customers to tap their mobile phone on a contactless reader at the point of sale to pay for purchases, eliminating the need for traditional swiping of credit cards, he said.

The service also does away with the need for customers to send SMS or incur mobile data charges to make these payments, Mr Jeff said. Nokia will support the service with its NFC-enabled Nokia 6212 classic phones, replacing the multitude of cards in cons umer wallets. Vodafone is the mobile network operator for the pilot service while MasterCard will offer its MasterCard PayPass contactless payment and security infrastructure. – PTI

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