HDFC plans mobile wallets, remittances

HDFC Bank, which already provides mobile banking facilities, is now planning to foray into mobile wallets. These will enable customers to use their mobile phones for transactions instead of carrying the debit or credit cards. “Our mobile banking users has doubled in less than six months of this year and with the growing trend, we are planning to introduce mobile wallets and remittances soon,” said HDFC Bank executive vice-president, retail banking, Rahul N Bhagat at the Banktech Congress in Mumbai. “We are looking at getting debit-card and credit-card services on mobile phones for transactions and introduce it in the rural areas,” he added. The bank is also focusing aggressively on ATM expansion. Kotak Bank has invested around Rs 20 lakh for developing mobile banking services. Currently, there are 1.6 million mobile banking users in India