PayMate, an Indian company offering an SMS-based payment service that allows customers to use their mobile phone as a credit or debit card, is entering the Nepalese market through its local representative PayBill.
PayMate's technology let customers use their handsets as a card to make payments at accredited merchants online, over the phone and in stores. It can be used to pay bills, make person-to-person money transfers, buy movie and flight tickets and make purchases at e-commerce sites.
Customers who sign up for the free service receive a four digit PIN number. When making a payment they share their mobile number with the merchant. They then receive an SMS message asking for payment authorisation with the PIN.
Once authorisation has been completed, their bank account gets debited and they, along with the merchant, receive a confirmation SMS.
PayBill has already teamed with Everest Bank to offer remote, SMS-based, mobile phone top-ups to Nepal Telecom's 2.2 million subscribers.
Ajay Adiseshann, MD and founder, PayMate, says. "Partnering with the Nepal's largest bank and largest telco is a great start for PayMate and PayBill to address a large customer base."
PayMate already operates in Sri Lanka and has also opened a US office in a bid to tap its large cross-border remittance and unbanked markets.