Vodafone Idea to close m-pesa business, writes off Rs 210 crore for payments bank closure

somnath chakraborty

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"The impairment charges include impairment in payments bank and m-pesa entities of Rs 2.1 billion (Rs 210 crore) following the decision to discontinue payments bank, wallet and business correspondent businesses in the respective entities," Vodafone Idea Chief Financial Officer Akshaya Moondra said.
The company had written off a total amount of Rs 580 crore during the first quarter of 2019-20.
Source
 
KYC saga catching up again. Difficult for such verticals to do and maintain KYC of all customers. They'd rather shut down.
I see Freecharge as a potential next follower.
 
What about Airtel Payments Bank and Paytm?
Paytm is trying to convince the government to let "Minimum KYC rule" continue. I read this article few days back. Some good insights.

"While presenting the concerns to RBI, the payment giant also said that peer-to-peer payments should be allowed for minimum KYC wallets. The online payment company argued that wallet-to-wallet payments occur within the banking circle thus the risk of frauds is minimised. Also, many small merchants use wallets to accept peer-to-peer payments from customers. Restricting this may affect India’s goal to digitise small-value merchant payments."

Paytm Requests RBI To Continue Operations Of Minimum KYC Wallets
 
Basically Vodafone is gradually wrapping up it's roots in India and slowly they will even reduce their share holding in Vodafone Idea limited till they exit the business. They have even shut down their brand stores in major parts of metro cities, even the one close to my place in Mumbai is shut down. They might convert to an MVNO operating on idea network eventually.
 
Wonder what happened to all those wallets called Oxigen, Payumoney, Mobikwik, Citrus, etc
 
Wonder what happened to all those wallets called Oxigen, Payumoney, Mobikwik, Citrus, etc
They had a good time in the past. It was a new business model and everyone benefited from it. Sadly, in India, the general public likes to abuse every new system. Due to a few rogue elements, we started seeing Fraud activities and then saw limitations and restrictions (Rs 10,000 limit, and then later KYC).

It would have continued well. Its a win-win situation. Advertisements and investors give funding, Customers benefit by Cashback. Company stays in profit. Sad to see it go.
 
Add Jio Money also in that list. But Paytm is well established I don't see them going out of market anytime soon.
Paytm got the first mover advantage with Paytm wallet.
People started using Paytm before KYC rules and all got money in the wallet.
So, to save the money from getting locked up in the wallet, they did KYC.
Also, Paytm provided good assistance to do KYC - like door pickup of documents, provided KYC point at almost every Mobile shop etc.
New players will not get these advantages, as people already have one or two Apps working with KYC done.
 
RBI cancels certificate of authorisation of Vodafone m-pesa

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday said it has cancelled the Certificate of Authorisation (CoA) of Vodafone m-pesa on account of voluntary surrender of authorisation. Following the cancellation of the CoA, the company cannot transact the business of issuance and operation of prepaid payment instruments, the central bank said.

However, customers or merchants having a valid claim on the company as a PSO, can approach the company for settlement of their claims within three years from the date of cancellation i.e. by September 30, 2022.

RBI cancels certificate of authorisation of Vodafone m-pesa
 
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