Mobikwik announces Mobikwik Lite for slow connectivity

If demonetization has left millions of people in lurch trying to arrange cash for their daily needs, the same phenomenon has given new lease of life to many e-payment solution providers or digital wallet startups who are leaving no stones unturned to make most of the 'opportunity'.

Mobile wallet startup, MobiKwik has announced the launch of MobiKwik ‘Lite’ that is easy to understand and helps unorganized retailers and shopkeepers across India in receiving payments seamlessly.

Aiming at the underserved smartphone users with slow data connectivity in India, MobiKwik Lite will work without any net connectivity too, therefore addressing all the challenges being faced by masses in accessing wallet payments - language, connectivity or quality of smartphones.

The smaller version of the mobile application is of 700 kilobytes (KB); its original app is close to 5.5 megabytes (MB) on Google play store. Compatible with Android v2.3 & above, the app supports receiving payment, bank transfer, P2P transfer, bill payments and recharges to download the application.

Bipin Preet Singh, Co-founder of MobiKwik said, "Majority of Indians does not have access to digital payments due to connectivity issues. With 250 million smartphones and less than 50 percent net penetration, India is highly underserved and the adverse impact of this reality is being observed by masses gave the recent demonetization. To bridge the gap between India & Bharat, we have launched MobiKwik 'Lite'.

He further added, “We make a promise that this app will be available not just for smartphones but also on feature phones. All you need is a mobile number.”

Users can download this app with just one missed call to 80971-80971 from any Android smartphone and sign up with their mobile number only, no email id required. After giving a missed call to this number, users will receive a link TextBox. The link directs the user to a payment gateway to make payment through net banking, unified payments interface (UPI) and other wallets, among other options.

“Any online merchant would have these payment options, but what we are trying to do is enable the same payment mechanism of these offline merchants who didn’t even have a PoS,” said Mrinal Sinha, chief operating officer, MobiKwik.

The app, which is currently available in Hindi and English, will be available in all major Indian languages by end of this week. The company will also be launching an offline version of this app.