SBI wants you to carry your credit cards in your mobiles

India's leading credit card issuer SBI is all set to introduce its mobile phone payment option, which would heat up the already intense competition in the mobile wallet services segment.

SBI plans to make its credit cards sit in the user's mobile phone so that payments through the host card emulation technology (HCE) can be facilitated, so that no swiping or reading an embedded chip is required.

"The future of cards is digital and free of plastic, and through this new technology, cards can sit in one's mobile and payments will be made directly through the phone," Vijay Jasuja, CEO, SBI Cards, told ET.

The French payments company, Worldline e-Payment Services, which works with almost all major banks in India in merchant acquisition and payments business, is currently working on introducing this technology in India.

"This technology can be introduced through the existing POS infrastructure in India. POS machines need to be updated so that they can accept all kinds of digital payments through mobile phones, and we are in the process of rolling out such POS terminals," said Deepak Chandnani, CEO, South Asia, Worldline.

Jasuja explained that the since the technology has to be rolled out on a huge level, it would require some time.

Image source