Digital mobile wallet service market is now getting competitive in India, with multiple players now offering offering a plethora of services to stay ahead of the bunch. On that note, Oxigen Wallet, which was one of the early movers in the mobile wallet segment in India, has launched virtual cards powered by Visa.
These virtual cards will be able to help users replace their debit or credit card to make payments online. Named as Visa Prepaid, the virtual cards can be created for an account or for a single transaction, which can be used across all the major online platforms where Visa cards are accepted, including Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Uber, Ola, etc.
With the introduction of virtual cards on its platform, the company is now aiming to have a customer base of over 100 million users in the coming two years.
Physical plastic cards are typically linked with the user’s bank accounts, which could do some serious damage in case of fraud. But, as the virtual cards are linked to wallet, the risk is pretty much low in case of fraud. Also, the risk of skimming, spoofing, etc. are reduced.
The service has already been rolled out to 15 million users of Oxigen Wallet. To create a virtual card using the app, just register with Visa, enter the amount to put into Visa virtual card from the wallet, and then the card will be generated on the phone with your name and card details.
Users can use it for a single transaction or multiple times. They can create as many Visa virtual cards as they like, which are also transferable to friends or family members through the app.
Pramod Saxena, founder and chairman of Oxigen Services India, said,
Mobile virtual card has been in the works for over a year and we’ve launched it today. Today, most mobile wallets have to do integration with service providers, some like Flipkart or Snapdeal don’t support mobile wallets of other brands. But, customers need one payment instrument which can be accepted everywhere, which no other wallet has. We are aiming to driving transactions this year, and providing avenues for use of wallet. Virtual cards is one of the avenues. We expect this to drive the usage significantly for us.
In India, Oxigen Wallet is up against some major wallet service providers such as PayTM, FreeCharge Wallet and Mobikwik. While most of the wallet service providers are offering discounts and coupons to get new users, Oxigen’s move to provide virtual cards could well prove to be a game changer.
Oxigen Wallet is India’s first non-bank wallet approved by RBI to be integrated with National Payment Corporation of India. Using this service, users can make instant payment or transactions within a network of 60 banks.
It currently has a customer base of more than 1,30,000 users who make an average of around 35 million transactions per month.
