MUMBAI: Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd has announced that Airtel, ICICI Bank and Visa have joined hands to launch mChq - a revolutionary new service - a credit card on the mobile phone.

This is the first mobile-to-mobile payment option, which enables Airtel customers and ICICI Bank Visa cardholders to pay for their purchases with their Airtel mobile phones.

 
The service eliminates the need of carrying cash for making a purchase and also does away with the need of a Point of Sale (POS) terminal since the mobile phone serves as a secure POs and a payment mechanism.

In the first phase, this service will be available to Airtel and ICICI Bank customers in Delhi, Mumbai and NCR across 100 retail outlets, including departmental stores, restaurants and bookshops and will be expanded to other cities in the coming months.

 
 
Airtel customers subscribing to this service will be issued a new sim card free of cost while ICICI Bank cardholders will be issued an add-on card on the basis of their existing ICICI Bank - Visa credit card.
 
 
Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd joint managing director Akhil Gupta said, "Innovation has been a key driver for us at Bharti. It has been instrumental in Airtel taking a leadership position and has also helped us sustain the growth that the company is witnessing. With the launch of this new service today, mobile phones now turn into virtual wallets and there is chance that the entire concept of payment may change. The product is a boon for customers, financial service providers, retailers and mobile service providers."