Vodafone M-Pesa partners with Walmart

NEW DELHI: Country's second-largest telecom operator Vodafone India has entered into a strategic tie-up with Walmart India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of world’s largest retailer Walmart Stores, to enable business members of the latter to make payments using mobile wallet M-Pesa.

Vodafone M-Pesa is an innovative mobile wallet that enables complete suite of services like money transfer, bill payments, and recharge on the move from the mobile.

The first-of-its-kind partnership with Walmart India, gives all its members, including small businesses such as kiranas/resellers, the benefit of sending money through their mobile phones instantly and securely and run their customer facing businesses more efficiently and in hassle-free manner, a release said.

As a part of this partnership, Vodafone M-Pesa will enable safe, secure and convenient transactions, making it easier for all its members in Lucknow, Amravati, Aurangabad, Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada and Guntur to make faster payments and help Walmart ensure timely delivery of goods.

Under this arrangement, when a Best Price store member based in any of these cities places an order with Walmart India, a Vodafone M-Pesa authorized agent will reach out to him/her and enable cash-in into his/her M-Pesa account. This will allow the member to make payments from his/her phone for the goods ordered from Walmart’s Best Price Cash and Carry store. After receiving a confirmation message, Walmart India will immediately dispatch goods to the member.

Suresh Sethi, Business Head –M-Pesa, Vodafone India, said, “Vodafone has always been at the forefront in launching innovative products and services relevant to the needs of our customers. Vodafone M-Pesa is an innovative, safe and secure mobile wallet that enables complete suite of services like money transfer, bill payments, and recharge on the move from the mobile. We are delighted to extend M-Pesa offering to Walmart India across its six Best Price Modern Wholesale stores. We are confident that this association will go a long way in simplifying the payments process for Walmart India from the members, especially resellers based in secondary markets. Starting with pilots in Amravati and Lucknow, we have now extended it to members in Aurangabad, Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Guntur and Vijayawada and we hope to extend it pan-India soon.”

Rajneesh Kumar, Vice-President and Head – Corporate Affairs, Walmart India, said: “We are very excited about this partnership with Vodafone M-Pesa. We are confident that our members, especially kiranas/resellers, will benefit due to the convenience of payment along with efficient delivery of quality products at their doorstep. We value our members and strive to give them an excellent shopping experience.”

Vodafone M-Pesa caters to all segments of the society, from the unbanked to the under banked and to the net-savvy and evolved customers. Today, it has a pan-India distribution of over 90,000 agents and more than three million customers.