Mahindra Comviva, First Data partner for mobile payment

Mobility solutions firm Mahindra Comviva today said it has entered into a strategic partnership with payment solutions provider First Data to roll out their Mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) solutions.

The payment solution enables businesses, including small and medium enterprises (SMBs) and service professionals, to utilise their mobile phone as a Point-of-Sale (POS) device and drive transaction volumes by letting consumers use card-based payment instruments, it said in a statement.

This will empower merchants to customise individual needs like home delivery, insurance, retailing & e-tailing, radio taxis and ticketing, it added.

The associated card reader has an innovative design that connects to the smartphone via Bluetooth and is equipped with a LCD display and tactile response pin pad for pin entry thus making it easy to use, Mahindra Comviva said.

It also accepts variety of card payments, including all kinds of chip and magnetic stripe cards and is fully compliant with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), EMV and Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards, it added.

"India has about 418 million credit/debit card holders as against only 1 million POS terminals. We expect a significant market share through our mPOS solution," Mahindra Comviva Senior VP and Head (Mobile Financial Solutions) Srinivas Nidugondi said.

This solution will be a one stop solution for merchants rather than them having to interact with multiple providers, he added.

A key feature of the mPOS solution is the flexibility to help the sales teams of large enterprises by bringing-in mobility to their line of businesses and basic payment acceptance to micro merchants.