Telenor India in partnership with mCarbon has launched Tatkal Credit, an emergency recharge credit facility for customers in its six operating circles. As part of this product, Telenor subscribers can avail a quick loan of Rs 5 in case their phone balance falls below Rs 1.50. The credit balance can be used as talk time, 10 local / STD minutes or 20 MB of data browsing. To avail this credit facility, subscriber can type USD Code *141# on their mobiles.

"Telenor is loved by customers for its affordable and value-for-money services. We strive to delight them by offering easy-to-use products, and simple-to-understand and transparent tariff plans. Tatkal Credit is an initiative by Telenor to ensure that our mass market subscribers are never out of recharge and are always connected. We will continue to innovate and design relevant services to make our customer's 'life full paisa vasool'," said Sharad Mehrotra, CEO, Telenor (India) Communications.

"Tatkal Credit" is an essential value addition for subscribers of Telenor across India. The service inherent  with analytics and our dynamic credit rating mechanism helps bolster the landscape of financial inclusion and reach, offering that millions of consumers stay seamlessly connected. Our proven expertise across hundreds of millions of subscribers also suggests that introduction of "Tatkal Credit" increases customer engagement significantly therefore helping lift average revenue per user(ARPU) in short to medium term," said Rajesh Razdan, Founder and CEO, mCarbon.

In India a lot of calls are rejected or are not initiated due to low balance. In an industry first initiative, Telenor India will monitor the phone balance of its subscribers in real time. Customers will get an alert message if their balance goes below Rs 1.5 and will be prompted to recharge or opt for Tatkal Credit.

By dialling USSD code *141# or by simply calling 121 Telenor customers can avail an instant credit of Rs 5. The credit amount along with a transaction fee of Re 1 will be adjusted against the next top-up. Customers can avail this offer multiple times in a day after repayment of the previous credit in subsequent top-ups.