Visa, Micromax and TranServ Rollout mVisa – First Initiative Under Visa Developer Platform

Visa, Micromax and TranServ have launched mVisa for all Udio mobile app users across the country, which include Micromax smartphone users.

Udio is a digital wallet enabled by TranServ to create payment experiences for customers. It enables customers to digitise their physical cash at nearly 100,000 offline centres across the country in addition to standard online wallet-loading options, reducing their dependance on cash and cash-based payments.

Speaking on the launch, Anish Williams, co-founder & CEO, TranServ said “The launch of mVisa on Udio mobile app delivers a world class payment experience to the large customer base of Micromax users. Owing to the simplicity of the process, we are confident of it becoming very popular with the cash-centric segments in the society, thus being a significant catalyst towards our mission of a less cash economy.”

In April 2016, Micromax announced its plans of shifting its focus from a handset maker to a company focussing on the services ecosystem. It has also announced a strategic partnership with TranServ and Visa. At that time,the three brands had signed an MoU to offer unique digital solutions specifically designed to meet the demands of the mobile-first Indian consumers.

This is the first roll-out of mVisa through the Visa Developer Platform. It is an open platform that provides developers to merchants, financial institutions, technology companies, and startups with access to some of Visa’s payment services and capabilities to create new digital commerce experiences. Visa Developer enables partners to connect to Visa over web services.

mVisa is a payment service that allows consumers to use their mobile phones to make cashless purchases, pay bills, and send money to friends and family members. Users can use the mVisa app by linking their Visa debit, credit or prepaid account and make purchases by scanning an mVisa Quick Response (QR) code at a retailer to initiate a transfer of funds from their account to the retailer’s account.

mVisa can be pre-embedded into different smartphones. It eliminates the need to carry cash by providing customers a more convenient and secure way to pay.

The mVisa payment solution will be made available to Micromax smartphone users through the native Udio app within their handsets – which makes Micromax the only handset provider with a native mVisa-facilitating app.

Vikas Jain, co-founder, Micromax, added, “The integration of mVisa on Udio is a step further towards simplifying mobile payments. Our collaboration will further leverage the Micromax mobile devices and our presence across a vast consumer base. We believe that single platform integration with multiple disparate services will broaden access and the mobile phone comes at the centre stage of this functionality.”

This launch comes close on the heels of the launch of Virtual Visa Card linked to the Udio mobile app in partnership with RBL Bank. According to a company statement, nearly 80% of new Udio users activate the Virtual card functionality monthly. In the last quarter the Virtual Visa card in the Udio app saw a 75% increase in the monthly payment volume; and an overall increase of 200% in the average ticket size.

The company claims that TranServ will be processing close to a billion-dollars of transaction volume in the current fiscal year. With the introduction of new features, including the Virtual card and mVisa, gaining momentum among all customer segments, TranServ aims for a 300% growth in transaction volume over the previous year.

In April 2016, TranServ raised $15 Mn in Series C funding led by IDFC SPICE Fund, a domestic venture capital fund managed by IDFC Asset Management Company and Micromax Informatics. Besides, its existing investors Nirvana and Faering Capital India Evolving Fund also participated in this round.