Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's (ADAG) flagship company Reliance Communications and India's second largest private sector bank, HDFC Bank, have joined hands to offer to India's first virtual credit card - Reliance mPay credit card - to Reliance mobile users across India. The virtual credit card does away with card number, card verification value (CVV) or even expiry date as the mobile number of the Reliance mobile subscriber becomes the credit card number. The virtual credit card works at any merchant establishment that accepts payment via Reliance mPay. The bank will authenticate all the information with RCom, which will be used to initiate and authorize all the payments using the customer's mobile handset. According to a Reliance Communcations official, one can use Reliance mPay for paying mobile bills (for Reliance post-paid as well as pre-paid customers), electricity bill payment (for those consuming electricity provided by Reliance Energy), as well as for a host of other things like booking movie tickets, travel tickets, retail shopping, online shopping and dining. As the Reliance mPay is PIN protected (the PIN number is issued to the customer at the time of issue of the virtual credit card) and the customer has to type in the PIN number each time when making a payment, it does away with the traditional risks associated with carrying credit cards and revealing its details at merchant establishments. "We are very pleased to partner with HDFC Bank, to provide our subscribers with this first of its kind offer. We are very excited that all Reliance Mobile Customers can participate in the Mobile Credit Card evolution. This is another step towards making money transfer, mobile commerce a reality in India!" said Mahesh Prasad, President, Applications, Solutions and Content Group, Reliance Communications. "This initiative goes beyond mobile payments, and in fact, makes the mobile phone a credit card," he added. "In continuation of HDFC Bank's tradition of using cutting edge technology to provide the best in world class banking experience to its customers, I am pleased to announce the launch of India's first Virtual Credit Card on Reliance Mobile phone," said Rahul Bhagat, Country Head - Retail Liabilities, Marketing & Direct Banking Channels, HDFC Bank. "An HDFC Bank customer can now shop using his Reliance Mobile and make payment without disclosing details of his credit card," he added. "The mPay platform eliminates the necessity to use a plastic credit card since the mobile handset itself acts as a virtual credit card with no separate card number provided as card holder's mobile number suffices the requisite customer identification details. The new payment concept thus offers hassle free transactions in a more secured environment since there is no need to enter credit card details while making payments. It also thus eliminates the card skimming and related fraud risks," said C.N. Ram, IT Head, HDFC Bank. However, Ram said that HDFC Bank is not bound by any "exclusive agreement" with Reliance Communications and over the next few months, the bank may "tie up with more mobile companies as well for similar services." According to market analysts, as virtual cards are more secure and convenient than traditional credit cards, other banks and mobile operators are also expected to tie-up in the near future and provide similar services. Internationally, this technology was introduced only a couple of years ago and has become a great success in countries like South Korea, Japan and Philippines, the analysts said.
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