Vodafone unveils M-pesa in Andhra Pradesh, completes pan India launch

The service which aims to transform money transfers has partnered with ICICI bank and would be available across 23 districts.

“The service eases money transfers and caters to both the urban and rural crowd. One of our target groups include migrant laboureres, who do not have bank accounts but are in dire need to send their money across. Through m-pesa, the labourers can transfer the money by just registering for an account,” Sunil Sood, CEO, Vodafone India said.

Vodafone which claims to have 63 lakh user base in Andhra Pradesh, has 3,826 agents across India. “All of these offices are within the 30 Km radius of ICICI bank as per the RBI rule,” Suresh Sethi, business head, m-pesa said.

Explaining the operation procedure of m-pesa Mr Sethi added, “The user has to register with an agent, who will inturn verify the bank account and issue a four digit security pin using which the member can transfer money to any person irrespective of the subscriber connection. The reciever gets a notification message about the money, which has to be enchashed within 15 days. The customer can transfer upto Rs5,000 in day and Rs25,000 in a month.”