Jamshedpur, June 11: Residents living in the Tata Steel command area will no more have to wait in long queues to pay their monthly water and electric bills.

For, consumers can now pay their bills simply through M-pesa - a mobile phone-based money transfer and financing service - as per their convenience.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the state, Urban infrastructure service provider, Jusco, a Tata Steel subsidiary, today opened the new window in collaboration with Vodafone and Bill Desk (Internet-based payment platform), which will allow over 45,000 water and electricity consumers (non-Tata Steel) to pay bills anytime anywhere.

For nearly 17,000 consumers (Tata Steel employees), bill amounts are deducted directly from their salaries.

"With this new facility, customers can now pay monthly utility bills from the comfort of their home or workplace without needing to stand in queues at various collection centres. One can now pay bills either by contacting Vodafone centres (14 centres located in every residential areas of Tata Steel command areas) or through their own smartphones by downloading the M-pesa app or by simply dialling through their normal non-smartphones," said Jusco spokesperson Rajesh Rajan.

As a promotional offer, Vodafone M-pesa has announced 5 per cent cash back on the billed amount with a ceiling of Rs 50 for the next three months.

A Jusco consumer having either a normal phone or a smartphone with a Vodafone connection will have to visit any of the 14 centres (address and names of the service centres are mentioned on the Jusco website) first to get their mobile wallet recharged with adequate amount. If they have netbanking or credit card facility, they can recharge their mobile wallet online.

Thereafter, non-smartphone Vodafone users will have to dial *400# to directly access the menu for paying their bills while those having smartphones with a Vodafone connection can dial *400*005# to go directly to the Jusco homepage and enter their business partner numbers and names and pay their bills through M-pesa.

Non-Vodafone users will have to download M-Pesa app from the playstore and enter their business partner numbers and pay the bills.

"This initiative is aimed at improving facilities for customers, and becoming a customer-centric organisation," said Jusco MD Ashish Mathur.