Movida, a mobile payments joint venture backed by Visa and Monitise, has signed an agreement with HDFC Bank, India’s second largest private bank, to introduce a first of its kind mobile payment service.

The new service allows HDFC Bank customers to pay bills, top up prepaid airtime and buy tickets from their mobile phone and is designed to operate across all mobile networks using any Visa or non-Visa branded payment account. It can be used by any mobile subscriber, anywhere and accessed by even the most basic mobile phone.

“This is a service designed for Indians. As we rollout the service to other banks more Indians will be able to benefit from mobile payments. Wave goodbye to waiting in long queues or visiting post offices or payment machines to pay bills as you will now be able to do that right from your mobile phone. This service is going to drastically reduce the time and energy Indians waste every day waiting to pay bills”, said Naushad Contractor, Movida’s President and head of the Monitise and Visa joint venture in India.

The new service uses menu-based USSD mobile technology making it one of the easiest services to use and the most widely available. After linking their HDFC Bank Visa or non-Visa payment card to their mobile phone number, cardholders can access the service via USSD over Movida’s secure connection. 

From then on it is just a matter of selecting the payment service require and making the payment. The simple menu can complete a transaction in only a few steps.