In today’s Digital world where all the users are shifting from personal computers to mobiles and smart devices, it is predicted that mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide in the year 2013. Meeting the demand from consumers for entertainment devices which have a business purpose and enterprise customers wishing for vice-versa, 2013 will witness a rise in new convertible devices which are a cross between full-on tablet and a straight laptop.

If we talk about the M-Commerce and M-Payment, the mobile payment (M-payment) segment is yet to pick pace in India but due to lack of awareness and apprehensions about security, it remain major hurdles to its adoption. However, it has a bright future too and it is expected that M-Payments will become primary channel with its easy usability and it would not remain as an alternate channel.

According to a recent report by Knowledgefaber, the mobile payment market in India is estimated to grow from $86 million in 2011 to $1.15 billion in 2016 at a CAGR of 68%. Currently, there is lack of adequate banking infrastructure, low internet and PC penetration which would further fuel the growth of the M-payments market. The large unbanked population (nearly 41%) and lack of payment options for micro-transactions are the key drivers for mobile payment in India. And it is anticipated to witness robust growth in coming future.

The mobile banking market size in India is $338 million in FY-12. Amongst all the banks who have rolled out M-payment solutions, the State Bank of India topped with a market share of 51 % in FY-12, followed by ICICI bank with 33%, and Citi bank at 8%. HDFC and Axis Bank grabbed just 3% and 2% market share, respectively in FY-12, while other banks grabbed just 4% market share.

The report pointed out that there were 90 million M-payment transactions with an average transaction size of $0.95 in 2011 in India. While in China, there were 340 million M-payment transactions with an average transaction size of $1.10 in China, in Kenya there were 700 million transactions and the average transactions size stood at $35 last year. Brazil accounted for 110 M-payment transactions with $2 average transaction size.

The customer interest and the willingness to pay however vary for individual services. It is therefore necessary to design offers taking cognizance of the needs and wishes of relevant target groups. Mobile Banking presents an opportunity for banks to retain their existing, technology-savvy customer base by offering value-added, innovative services and to attract new customers from corresponding sections of the society. The customer survey provides evidence that such sections in the meanwhile include the affluent and financially relevant groups of the society in Germany. The time seems to be ripe to convert this non-negligible customer interest into business-driving customer demand. A proactive attitude on the part of the banks therefore seems to be recommendable.