FINO Pay Tech Ltd. acquires erstwhile Nokia Mobile Payment Services in India

Enters prepaid mobile payment business space through launch of Takatak Money

•    The new entity would aim to capture a major piece of the fast growing mobile money user base in the country

•    The deal is in sync with FINO’s growth strategy to offer bouquet of services to the 50 Million customer base in India

•    As the largest BC in the country with a strong network of 31000 transaction points, Fino Pay Tech Ltd..is well placed to tap the mobile customer base of 920 Million offering mobile prepaid services like money transfers, purchases, utility bill payments and airtime top ups

•    Alpha Payment Services India Private Limited (Alpha), the new entity will offer its services under the brand Takatak Money

Mumbai, Wednesday June 27, 2012 FINO, India’s largest business correspondent (BC) and alternative channel for financial services, today announced the acquisition of prepaid mobile payment business of erstwhile Nokia Mobile Payment Services in India.

With this acquisition, Fino Pay Tech Ltd. having achieved significant scale in banking services, would be entering into the vast prepaid mobile payments space. In order to provide a smooth and quality service to its customers and maintain the dynamics of customer centric prepaid business, the new entity Alpha Payment Services India Private Limited (Alpha) (erstwhile Nokia Mobile Payment Services) would be operating as an independent company.

Explaining the importance of this acquisition, Manish Khera, CEO-Fino Pay Tech Ltd.said, "Acquiring India's prepaid mobile payment business from Nokia adds another feather to our cap. We believe that this initiative will take us beyond banking services to payments domain and enable direct engagement with customers. The assets we gain through this deal give us a distinct advantage in the market place."

The new entity headed by Ms. Shweta Aprameya, will wholly focus on prepaid payment services and will offer services such as money transfers, utility bill payments, mobile & DTH recharges etc under the brand Takatak Money. This service would be bank and telecom operator agnostic and would aim to cater to the requirement of both urban and rural customers.

It is estimated that more than 65% of all retail transactions in India are conducted in cash (ASSOCHAM-Deloitte August 2011 Report).This presents a huge opportunity for digital payment systems, the mobile channel being the most promising. There is huge faith being put on leveraging the large mobile penetration to tap this potential, currently estimated at 920 million subscribers in India. The rural market contributes to a considerable 35% of the total mobile subscribers in India!

"Nokia is pleased that Fino Pay Tech Ltd.will take over Nokia's obligations with regards to its mobile financial services in India and provide an opportunity for Nokia Money customers to continue to enjoy mobile money by transferring to Takatak Money accounts in the near future," said Gary Singh, General Manager & Business Head, Nokia Mobile Financial Services in India.

Fino Pay Tech Ltd.currently services 50 mn customers across host of banking products and services and is very deep rooted in India covering over 50,000 villages. Fino Pay Tech Ltd.has extensive experience of developing the right customer proposition and achieving scale in field and central operations, both critical for success in this market. This marriage of large deep penetration and modern technology backed offering is expected to create a winning formula for the benefit of large customer base.

"This is a strategic investment for FINO. It will add value to our comprehensive range of financial services products, thereby enhancing shareholders value. This new entity will further enhance FINO's ability to meet the transaction needs of the un-serviced and under-serviced population of the country which offers a big business opportunity in the growing payment space in the country" said Rishi Gupta, CFO-FINO.

Over the last decade, Indian telecom story, especially the mobile growth rate helped create innovative business opportunities to corporate and entrepreneurs. The growing use of mobile applications and value added services is a point of proof in this context. Furthering this trend, mobile payments are expected to increase. Studies suggest money transfer and airtime top-ups will account for most of the volume of prepaid mobile payments. Money transfers will account for the largest portion of the transaction value because of the demand for secure and efficient ways of storing and transferring money.

Further, Tavess Research reports, mobile money in emerging markets like the Middle East, Asia, and Africa are expected to cross 1 billion users by 2015, with India accounting for over 100 million subscribers.

Reportlinker.com's May 2012 report on BRIC countries aptly summarizes FINO’s foray into the mobile payment space – "the rapidly growing mobile money market in India is driving the established business correspondents (BCs) to directly offer mobile payment services."

About FINO PayTech:

FINO PayTech is India's largest business and banking technology platform with extensive service delivery network enabling Financial Inclusion. FINO PayTech, created by a consortium of banks and other sectoral entities, works closely with banks, insurance companies and Governments in facilitating access to financial services to the unbanked and underserved segments of the population. It services over 50 million customers spread across urban and rural areas in the country providing a range of financial services viz savings, remittance, insurance, credit etc. FINO PayTech aims to provide financial services using all available platforms that helps reach a large section of the population in an affordable way. (www.finopaytech.com)