Mobile magic in money transfer

Mumbai, Sept. 6: If you need to send money to ailing parents or a spendthrift child in a college hostel, the chances are that you have had to rely on internet banking, the good old bank draft or Western Union’s money transfer facility.

Now you have another option: subscribers of Reliance Communications (R-Com), who are also customers of ICICI Bank, will now be able to transfer money just by punching the keypad of their mobile phones.

The money remittance market is estimated at $24 billion annually which includes global remittances into India.

Anil Ambani-owned R-Com and ICICI Bank today launched the money transfer facility.

There are some restrictions on the use of the facility: for a start individuals at both ends must have ICICI Bank accounts. The Reliance mobile phone user will have to go the finance section at Reliance Mobile World and then click on the mobile banking service where there will be an option to access one’s ICICI Bank savings account.

There is a fixed a limit of Rs 5,000 per transaction. Customers can, however, carry out multiple transactions. Each transaction will be charged a fee of Rs 10. However the service will be free for an introductory period of 90 days.