MobiKwik ties up with Truecaller to grow user base

In an effort to increase its customer base, Gurgaon-based One MobiKwik Systems Pvt. Ltd has tied up with Truecaller to allow users of the caller identification services provider to register with the online wallet company instantaneously.

"The partnership is already contributing to over 30% daily app registrations on MobiKwik," chief operating officer Mrinal Sinha said in a statement.

MobiKwik, which also runs an online recharge platform, claims to have about 35 million users and 100,000 retailers on its platform. Truecaller last month said it had 100 million users in India who make over 500 million calls monthly from its app.

MobiKwik claims it is powering payments for state-run railway ticketing platform IRCTC, Uber, Big Bazaar, OYO Rooms, Zomato, PVR, BookMyShow, Big Basket, Dominos, ShopClues, Myntra, Barista and MakeMyTrip, among others.

The company has launched several initiatives to gain customers of late. Earlier this month, it launched 'M-Gullak' for urban poor in a tie-up with the non-profit Samagra. M-Gullak will provide an ICT-enabled mobile wallet platform that enables users to save small amounts at various locations, recharge phones, buy digital goods and transfer money to their bank accounts. The initiative has first been launched in Pune, and will be launched in Delhi soon.

The company says its 'Cash Pick Up' service is growing 75% month-on-month since its launch in October last year. This service allows users to add cash directly to their MobiKwik wallet from the comfort of their home or office. The service allows anywhere from Rs 100 to Rs 10,000 to be added to the user's wallet in real time.

Last month, MobiKwik raised $40 million from South African payments firm Net1, taking the total it has secured so far to $120 million from marquee investors such as Sequoia Capital, American Express, Cisco Investments and MediaTek.

MobiKwik's arch rival, Paytm, claims to have over 100 million users. MobiKwik, however, questions this number. Both rivals also share an investor in Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek.

India's digital payments industry will reach $500 billion by 2020, representing a 10-fold increase from current levels, according to a July 2016 Google-BCG study. The report predicts that more than 50% of India's Internet users are likely to use digital payments by 2020, and the top 100 million users are likely to drive 70% of digital payments by value.

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