Product crack: M-Pesa

M-Pesa is a mobile money transfer and payment service provided by Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd or MSCL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vodafone group company, and ICICI Bank Ltd. You have to be a Vodafone customer to use this facility; you need not be an ICICI Bank customer though.

So far, M-Pesa has been rolled out in Mumbai, Delhi-National Capital Region, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

Enrolment process

First, you need to visit an M-Pesa outlet to register yourself (find an agent at Mpesa.in). There, you need to fill up a form and provide identity and address proofs such as Permanent Account Number, passport and voter’s identity card. You will also have to deposit a minimum amount to open the M-Pesa account. Once you are done, you will receive an SMS with a four-digit personal identification number or PIN. Dial *400# and then enter the PIN and your date of birth to finally activate the service.

Once the documents are verified and approved by MCSL and ICICI Bank, the Mobile Money account, as part of the M-pesa service, will get facilitated within 48 hours.

Main features

What does it offer? Initially, only the mobile wallet facility will be activated. Under this, you will be able to do transactions including cash deposit, money transfer to any bank account or another M-Pesa customer’s account, recharge mobile phones and television and even pay mobile and utility bills.

The Mobile Money account will allow you to withdraw cash and send money to any person connected with a mobile phone; this is not possible with just the mobile wallet facility.

How does it work? To deposit money physically, you can visit an authorized M-Pesa agent. You will receive a confirmation via SMS. If you want to transfer money from your mobile to any mobile number, dial *400# and select the appropriate item on the list displayed. You will have to enter the mobile number that you want to send money to and then enter the amount.

Charges: You will have to make an initial deposit of 200, of which 100 is activation fee and will be deducted immediately. For sending 3,501-5,000 to a registered user or bank account, the fee is 80; for unregistered users, the fee for the same amount is 180; for withdrawal of the same amount, it will be 75. Convenience fee of 10 per transaction will be charged for payment of utilities.

Mint money take

Currently, there are several services for sending money through mobile phones. But the products and cost are not comparable considering that services vary. Choose a product whose services serve your needs while keeping a look out for costs.