Citi trials contactless mobile phone payments services in India

Citi, US banking giant, partners with MasterCard, Nokia, Vodafone and ViVOtech in order to launch contactless mobile phone payments services in Bangalore, India. “Tap and Pay” trial allows users to make credit card payments via their mobile phones. The process of payment will occur by waving users’ NFC-enabled phones over contactless readers at the point of sale at participating merchants.

According to the Citi, it will be its largest marketplace pilot. 5000 customers and 500 merchants are expected to participate. In order to participate, customers need to buy NFC-capable Nokia N6212, which is pre-loaded with an application enabled with MasterCard's PayPass contactless technology.

Rajashekaran, country business manager, Citi India, says: "We are very pleased to offer this breakthrough service to our cardholders in Bengaluru and bring to reality the convergence of the wallet with the mobile phone. Our goal is to ensure that Citi Tap and Pay successfully embeds itself into our customers' mobile lifestyles."