subject: Citi Brings Next-Generation NFC Mobile Payments to India [print this page] Citi today announced the launch of Citi Tap and Pay in the city of Bengaluru, thus bringing to India next-generation contactless credit card payments based on Near Field Communications technology. The launch of the Citi Tap and Pay pilot service will be one of the world's largest and most comprehensive pilots ever undertaken and is part of Citi's ongoing efforts to harness new innovative technologies to provide enhanced convenience, accessibility and mobility for customers. Reinforcing its leadership role in accelerating the adoption of this emerging technology, Citi has established a fully secure, scalable and interoperable mobile payments ecosystem in Bengaluru in collaboration with Nokia, Vodafone, MasterCard and ViVOtech.
With the launch of Citi Tap and Pay in India, customers in Bengaluru will experience the simplicity, ease and convenience of using their mobile phone as a credit card. 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 the traditional swiping of credit cards. The service also does away with the need for customers to send SMS or incur mobile data charges to make these payments.
Early adopters of this technology will enjoy promotional offers such as discounts at popular merchant establishments, which cover a wide range of categories including department stores, food courts at shopping malls and office buildings, restaurants and fast food chains, bookstores and multiplexes.
Nokia will support the service with its NFC-enabled Nokia 6212 classic phones The 3G phone provides consumers the capability to conduct NFC-based interactions with other such everyday devices and services. Most importantly, NFC-enabled phones can replace the multitude of cards in consumer wallets. Vodafone is the Mobile Network Operator for the pilot service. MasterCard will offer its MasterCard PayPass contactless payment and security infrastructure. ViVOtech is providing the underlying technology, including the NFC wallet, the Over-the-Air (OTA) card provisioning software, the smart posters and the mobile coupon application in addition to the contactless readers that participating merchants will use to accept payments.
Jeff Semenchuk, EVP and Head of Growth Ventures, Citi Innovation, said: "Citi believes contactless mobile payment services will be a key lifestyle driver for our highly mobile, international and increasingly urban customer base, and we are delighted to be the first to deliver this innovative service to them. Exceptional customer value creation needs collaboration and we will always look to work together with key ecosystem partners in applying smart, everyday, everywhere technology around the globe, while keeping the customer at the forefront of everything we do."
N. Rajashekaran, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citi India, said: "We are very pleased to offer this breakthrough service to our cardholders in Bengaluru and bring to reality the convergence of the wallet with the mobile phone. Our goal is to ensure that Citi Tap and Pay successfully embeds itself into our customers' mobile lifestyles."
GK Chakrapani, Director, Corporate Business Development, Nokia India, said, "Nokia is the pioneering global leader in the evolution of NFC standards and solutions. The core NFC strategy is to provide market leading devices for consumers and develop services that add value to the consumer experience and allow the NFC ecosystem to evolve. Nokia believes that NFC has the potential to be a disruptive technology, enabling a human way of interaction, transforming everyday tasks, making things easier, more intuitive and more effective.
"Nokia's NFC-enabled devices like the Nokia 6212 classic, combine payment, ticketing and potential loyalty applications all in one device, which makes it interesting for many businesses. Today, we are happy to associate with Citi to offer the Citi Tap and Pay service that would make secure credit card payments a reality."
Rajesh Dongre, COO, Mobile Commerce, Vodafone Essar, said, "The mobile phone has become a key personal device and it is our strategy to employ the latest technology and innovation to drive even greater value for our customers. We hope this pilot will provide a new dimension to making electronic payments and prepare the ground for secure, large-scale, SIM based sustainable deployment of NFC-enabled payments based on internationally standardized NFC technology, adding more choice and hence more value to our subscribers."
"We are delighted to work with Citi to bring contactless payments technology to consumers and retailers in Bengaluru. With our increasingly busy lives, its easy to appreciate the ease and convenience of paying for your everyday items with your everyday device no more fumbling for wallets and change," said T.V. Seshadri, vice president and country general Manager, South Asia, MasterCard Worldwide. "Both MasterCard and Citi understand the needs that influence consumers' lifestyle choices and have been working closely with the industry to spur the growth of NFC mobile payments by developing open, global standards and driving product innovation. Citi is known world over for its cutting-edge products, and we are confident that with this collaboration, NFC mobile payments is set to take off in India."
Michael Mullagh, CEO of ViVOtech, said: "We are delighted to provide the end-to-end technology from the handset to the reader in one of the world's largest NFC launches. This new technology promises to revolutionize the payment and shopping experience and bring enormous benefits to consumers and the payment, retail and mobile ecosystems."
Citi Brings Next-Generation NFC Mobile Payments to India
