Vodafone M-Pesa inks with BESCOM for easy bill pay

NEW DELHI: Vodafone India’s M-Pesa has partnered with the Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), offering millions of people in Bengaluru, Davangere, Tumkur and Chitradurga regions in Karnataka a simple, easy-to-use option to pay their electricity bills instantly.

Vodafone M-Pesa offers customers a cashless, secure platform for electricity bill payments with a large network of agents (or CashIn Points) to enable digitization of money for a cash holding population.

Vodafone has more than 4000+ outlets (or CashIn Points) including Vodafone Company owned stores, franchisees, and multi brand outlets. These CashIn Points provide convenience and ease to Customers to convert cash into digital money facilitating digital payment of Bills and e-commerce /m-Commerce. The bill payment touch points are easily available at every nook and corner, including all Vodafone brand stores in Karnataka.

Inviting the residents of these four locations in Karnataka to reap the benefit of instant electricity bill payment on the go through Vodafone M-Pesa, Amit Kapur, Karnataka Circle, Business Head, - Vodafone India said “It has been our constant endeavor to deliver and bring innovative and simplified service offerings relevant to the needs of our customers. Vodafone M-Pesa partnership with the BESCOM is one such initiative that bridges the need for a simple, timely and cashless electricity bill payment solution through the mobile phone”.

"Customers across various segments can access M-Pesa on either a smart phone by downloading (Google Play store > M-Pesa customer app > Download > Register with basic credentials > Confirmation SMS > Login and change the PIN) the M-Pesa App or by dialing a USSD short-code (*400#) from any phone including any feature phone. This facility is aimed at driving financial inclusion further along with providing the State Electricity Board subscribers in these four locations in Karnataka the benefit and comfort of making payments instantly. As an added benefit, new users of M-Pesa can earn 5% cashback on the payment made through the App (cashback of maximum Rs.50 each month for a period of 3 months)," the company said.

Elaborating further on the service, Suresh Sethi, Business Head, M-Pesa, Vodafone India said “With this facility, customers now have an access to multiple touch points for electricity bill payments in a simple and hassle free manner. From process automation to instant and secure transaction, we are confident M-Pesa will bring transformational benefits to the people in Karnataka and further drive financial inclusion in the state.”

Serving the needs of the unbanked and under-banked customers, Vodafone M-Pesa is a safe, fast and convenient way of bringing bank to the mobile. Also, with a pan India distribution network of over 120,000 CashIn Points and with more than 5.4 million customers, Vodafone M-Pesa is the largest banking business correspondent in the country. M-Pesa today plays a vital role in enabling financial inclusion and m-commerce. 'M-Pesa’ effectively leverages the combined strengths of Vodafone’s global expertise in the domain of mobile payments and significant distribution reach in India plus the security of financial transactions provided by ICICI Bank.