RBI norms hit Bharti-WU mobile money transfer bid

THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines on mobile banking have put a spanner in Bharti Airtel and Western Union's joint plan to launch international remittance and transfer via mobile phones. Airtel is seeking a special clearance from the RBI to at least allow pilots for international money transfers.
    Speaking to ET, Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli said, "The tie-up with Western Union remains intact. The industry is requesting the RBI to allow concessions on international remittances via mobile. For our tie-up with Western Union, we are seeking a special clearance from RBI to at least allow pilots within proper security controls."
    According to RBI guidelines issued this month, only Indian Rupee-based domestic services shall be provided. "Use of mobile banking services for cross-border inward and outward transfers is strictly prohibited and the services shall be restricted only to customers of banks and/or holders of debit/credit cards," RBI has said.
    The mobile operators also seems to be peeved at existing form of guidelines especially with regards to domestic transaction limits of Rs 5,000 per day . The transaction limit is very low with regards to booking of rail/air tickets or paying insurance premium. We want the transaction limit to be upped to Rs 25,000 per day," said Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) director general TV Ramachandran.
    CDMA operators are also seeking a revision of the guidelines and inclusion of suggestions they had submitted to RBI on the same, earlier. According to RBI, a daily cap of Rs 5,000 per customer for funds transfer and Rs 10,000 per customer for transactions involving purchase of goods/services is permitted. Both COAI and Association of Unified Service Providers of India (AUSPI) have written a letter to the RBI expressing their concerns. "Many operators like Vodafone have already launched mobile banking operations in countries like South Africa. Idea is also ready with its mobile banking capability while Aircel has launched it in Malaysia. Allowing international remittances will be a positive step. Mobile banking may not take off at all considering the present set of restrictions," Mr Ramachandran adds.
    Mobile operators are also unhappy with the fact that RBI has mandated banks to offer the service on all networks thus nullifying exclusive tie ups. In contrast, the operators demand that the issue of interoperability should be left to the market forces.
    Last year, Bharti Airtel and Western Union decided to jointly develop mobile money transfer service in the country. The move by Airtel was a part of a global launch by the GSM Association wherein 35 mobile operators had jointly planned to enable the remittances for 200 million migrant workers, living far from their native country.
MONEY MATTER
RBI guidelines say that only Indian Re-based domestic services shall be provided
Mobile operators peeved at domestic transaction limit of Rs 5,000 per day
They are also unhappy with the fact that RBI has mandated banks to offer the service on all networks, thus nullifying exclusive tie-ups