Vodafone to bring M-Pesa service to 20,000 customers in MP

Telecom major Vodafone on Wednesday said it will associate at least 20,000 customers in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh with its popular 'M-Pesa' service in the next three months.

The service, launched in collaboration with the ICICI Bank, provides the facility of transferring money through mobile phone at a faster pace than any other mode.

"We will associate at least 20,000 customers in the next three months in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh with the M-Pesa service," the MP-CG Circle head of the company, Ashish Chandra told reporters in Indore.

The company at present has 2,022 outlets in the circle and it has planned to increase them to 20,000 soon to provide the facility in the entire region, especially rural areas.

Previously, Chandra formally announced the launching of the service in the region. Vodafone at present has 47 lakh customers in the circle, Chandra said.

Earlier this week, Vodafone had brought its M-Pesa service to customers in Tamil Nadu. The service was launched by Vodafone India, Operations Director (South), Suresh Kumar, Vodafone India, Business-Head, Tamil Nadu and Chennai, Apoorva Mehrotra and Vodafone India, Business Head-M Pesa, Suresh Sethi, in Chennai.

"We are delighted to bring to Tamil Nadu and Chennai, the M-Pesa, a mobile banking service, in partnership with ICICI Bank. M-Pesa, is a safe, secure and convenient service to transfer money and make payments beyond the reach of traditional banking channels," Mehrotra said.

Vodafone has launched the M-Pesa services in various telecom circles, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, West Bengal, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh East and Western regions, Bihar. The service will be made available across the country in a phased manner, Vodafone added.

(Also see: Vodafone and ICICI Bank launch M-Pesa service in Odisha)