ICICI Bank and telecom company Vodafone have launched of ‘M-Pesa’, a mobile money transfer and payment service, in Odisha. M-Pesa empowers the unbanked and under-banked sections of the population gain access to financial services through the mobile phone. The service will effectively leverage the combined strengths of Vodafone’s global expertise in the domain of mobile payments and significant distribution reach in India plus security of financial transactions provided by ICICI Bank. This service will now be available across 202 ‘tehsils’, 24 districts through 1350 specially trained authorised agents including 73 Vodafone exclusive stores in Odisha. Apart from Odisha, ‘M-Pesa’ has been rolled out in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, West Bengal, Punjab, UP East, UP West, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Assam & North East and Haryana and will be made available across the country in a phased manner.
