Citibank’s Indian debit and credit card holders would be a happy lot! Citibank has made an announcement about launch of its paperless mobile payment solution that will help millions of Citibank customers do away with charge slips. Furthermore, this will be implemented on their worldwide global network.
According to Citibank, this is the first fully certified and secured payment solution and will help consumers to make payments using their cards on simple mobile devices across various points of purchases. Citibank has already partnered with 7 Indian brands that include Flipkart, Shoppers’ Stop, Bajaj Allianz and Bookmyshow who will be offering this paperless payment solution to their customers.
Citibank’s paperless payment solution has been launched in partnership with Ezetap, an angel prime company, that recently closed a 3.5 million round funding from US based investors.
How exactly does this New Paperless Payment solution work?
Although, Citibank has not given exact details as to how it works, here what we have gathered. Citibank’s offering is not a classic mobile payment solution where user can make payment through his / her mobile, but it is actually a point of sale card reader.
The user has to swipe his debit or credit card on a square shaped device (ezetap’s solution) and it will then get digitally signed and authenticated. Unlike traditional means, where merchant has to print the reciept By electronically capturing the signature, Citibank’s solution will eliminate the need for paper receipts.
The new system can work through a dongle, which can be plugged into smart phones and tablets and is compliant with the global security standards developed by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council.
How will help Merchants and Consumers?
Citibank’s solution will be especially useful to online merchants like Flipkart and others. The cost of this new device is expected is to be much lower than normal card readers – Less than Rs. 2000 as compared to over Rs. 12000 – making it possible for even a small roadside merchant to start offering Citibank’s paperless payment solution.
As per some estimates, there are 300 million debit and credit cards in India and only about 5 lakh card reading devices. With the cost of card readers coming down drastically due to solutions like these, consumers can have paperless card payment facilities at their door step.
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