Citi bank launched ‘Citi Tap and Pay’ mobile payments in India

Citi Bank has introduced 'Citi Tap and Pay' here, in India the 'contactless credit card payment system' which will give customers the convenience of using their mobile phone as a credit card.

This new technology is based on Near Field Communications (NFC) technology in collaboration with Nokia, Vodafone, MasterCard and VIVOtech.

Jeff Semenchuk, executive vice-president and head of growth ventures, Citi Innovation informed reporters, "The launch of Citi Tap and Pay pilot service will be one of the world's largest pilots ever undertaken, establishing a fully secure scalable and interoperable mobile payments ecosystem in Bangalore".

By using this technology customers will be able to tap their mobile phone on a contactless reader at the point of sale to pay for purchases, instead of traditional swiping of credit cards, he said.

Jeff added this service will also do away with the need for customers to send SMS or incur mobile data charges to make these payments.

Nokia will offer the service with the support of NFC-enabled Nokia 6212 classic phones, which will replace the multiple of cards in consumer wallets. Vodafone network operator will provide the platform for the pilot service while MasterCard will offer its MasterCard PayPass contactless payment and security infrastructure.

ViVOtech is providing the primary technology including the NFC wallet, the Over-the-Air (OTA) card provisioning software, the mobile coupon application in addition to contactless readers to the merchant who are opt for this technology to accept payments, N Rajashekaran, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citi India, informed.

the new NFC-capable Nokia N 6212 classic phone will be pre-loaded with Citi Tap and Pay applications enabled with MasterCard's PayPass contactless payment technology so the can purchase at designated Nokia stores, he said.

This will enable the customers to securely execute an Over-The-Air download of their Citibank MasterCard credit card on to their mobile phone. Once custom-made, customers credit card on the phone is ready and can use the phone to make Tap and Pay transactions with the merchants having Citi Tap and Pay and MasterCrd PayPass readers, Rajashekaran informed.

The sources said Citi Tap and Pay transactions are absolutely secure as it require a PIN validation. The contactless payment transactions will be automatically charged to a customer's Citibank MasterCard card account.

Rajashekaran informed, "Out of Citibank's four lakh customers in Bangalore, we are looking at 5,000 for this pilot project which will continue for six months".

Citibank’s customers can purchase NFC-Capable Nokia N 6212 at an inaugural price of Rs 5,000 originally it is priced at Rs 11,650.