M-Payment Firm Beam To Expand Pan-India; To Invest Rs 500 Cr

New Delhi-based mobile payment provider Suvidha's Beam Simple Money service expects to double its user base by March 2012 as it expands its reach across India. Established in 2009, Beam has over 5 million customers today in the country and a network of 50,000 retailers and 20,000 registered merchants.

Beam offers mobile payment services various services ranging from mobile recharges, travel tickets to utility bills payments and recently partnered with Bookmyshow.com. Users can now purchase tickets, recharge their mobiles and pay their bills using Beam's mobile (WAP) site, its application, the company's website or landline service. Users can also avail of Beam Sahayaks, who are facilitators for the payments. Beam offers mobile recharge for all operators except Airtel and boasts an automatic system that recognises the telecom operator from the mobile number and recharges the account instantly. It claims its payment services have received approvals from RBI and the Department of Telecommunication.

The m-commerce firm is now planning to invest Rs 500 crore funded by overseas investors in the company to expand its business pan-India by March, 2012, according to Business Standard.

Other payment service providers in India include Itz Cash Card, Paymate, Obopay, NGPay. Most of these today offer mobile phone top up services like Beam as well as utility payment services.