The Times of India group has launched Wallet365, an online payment system that is almost completely on the lines of PayPal; I say almost, because there is one way in which it differs from PayPal, and that difference could well be its raison d’etre. For Wallet365 lets you make online payments for goods/services that are denominated in Indian rupees (INR), something you can’t do currently with PayPal in India. And this is what makes PayPal practically irrelevant in the Indian context.
For those who are familiar with PayPal, Wallet365 works in exactly the same way. It is being marketed as an ‘E-Wallet’, which enables individuals and businesses to make payments to one another in an easy, secure and affordable manner in real time & completely online. All you need is an email id. Individuals can send/receive money electronically, make online purchases, pay utility bills online or store money electronically for future purchases. Merchant establishments can collect payments safely and securely from online buyers, obviating the need for credit cards. Wallet365 has been launched by Times Money Ltd., a subsidiary of the TOI and the financial backend (payment gateway) is provided by Yes Bank. To facilitate online shopping and paying bills, Wallet365.com has signed-up with over 100 merchants. And it will surely get a huge push from online transactions on Indiatimes.
I have never been a fan of TOI’s online (ad)ventures. They are too diversified (newpapers, media, television, radio, movies etc) to have a particularly coherent vision for their online presence; I think they treat their online ventures as just another sales channel. But with Wallet365, you have to give them the credit of thinking ahead of the industry. For they have correctly diagnosed that the biggest obstacle to Indian ecommerce is people’s unwillingness to use their credit/debit cards online. Since this service takes e-commerce beyond credit cards, customers no longer need to worry about sharing confidential credit card data online. Wallet365 could help to take the fear out of the user’s mind and act as a catalyst in getting many first-timers get initiated into ecommerce. And given their dominant position in Indian media channels, they can get the word out about Wallet365 pretty effectively.
Check out what the IAMAI 2006 report has to say about online payments –“Online bill payment is still in its infancy, but the potential is staggering. According to research, the number of Indians paying bills online is expected to increase from the current 0.3 million in 2005-06 to 1.8 million by 2007-2008. Netizens will increasingly adopt online bill payment for factors such as convenience, control, trust, privacy, and improved record-keeping . â€
It is also worth noting that out of the Rs 600 crore online turnover in 2005 in India, a big majority (almost 75%) is travel related websites i.e. Indian Railways, low cost airlines etc. The contribution of other online merchants establishments in this annual figure is actually quite miniscule. That’s another pointer to the typical Indian aversion to transact online unless there is no other option (as is clearly the case with railways).
Actually, Wallet365 is NOT India’s first online payment solution of this kind. The first to do so was bazzee.com (now eBay India) with its Indianised version of a PayPal kind of payment mechanism called PaisaPay. I would speculate that PaisaPay was also created for similar reasons as Wallet365 i.e. because of PayPal’s inability to honour INR denominated ecommerce transactions. But PaisaPay is just an internal payment mechanism on the Bazzee/eBay website.
The TOI group has an unassailable position amongst media related businesses in India. I think they have made a very smart move by launching Wallet365. But to make this an ecommerce industry standard in India, you need more than just clout or influence; you need to have a consistently focused vision. The diversified nature of their group’s activities may well prove to be the ‘spanner in the works’ for Wallet365.
Well, we have a couple of statements that need correction or looking into.
1. There was always paisepay which allowed you to pay in Indian ruppees. I am sure as to the scalability and how many financial institutions backed the initiative, but neverthless, this is not a completely groundbreaking attempt.
2. I am quite positive that it is YES bank that is behind this service and pushing this. Now I am a bit confused, but along with Times of India group, YES bank is definitely behind it.
We have much bigger issues, such as the Indian population not being familiar with the usage of the wired web for financial transactions, rather than there not being a means. I am very skeptical as to the success of this initiative… maybe they will get their marketing right, but not before they burn a lot of cash in the process.
Vijay,
Thanks for dropping by.
PaisaPay was the first initiative of this sort but thats applicable only on the Ebay website ; it has no relevance outside of the eBay world; in that sense, Wallet365 is the probably the first Indian payment mechanism .
I totally agree with your skepticism about the prospects for Wallet365. While the motivation behind launching the product is worth applauding, ToI’s ability to make this successful is highly questionable.
Try and try till you succeed. A few will fail but ultimately there will be a few which will have the power to sustain and be the winner.
http://ccavenue.com/ has also been around several years.
If Wallet365 is going to have the same quality standards as the other IndiaTimes products, I’m staying far, far away. That network appears to specialise in crappy clones of successful ideas.
Hi Jace,
Thanks for pointing out CCavenue ; I checked them out and they seem essentially a payment gateway solution provider, not exactly a wallet365/paypal equivalent.
Your mistrust of TOI is widely shared; they are not know to be tech savvy , something thats a prerequisite for making this successful
amit
Hi!
I am looking forward to Wallet365 becoming a success. It will be good to us Indians as we get a Paypal alternative.
But, I too think that TOI are not Tech Savvy as they should be and so doubt that it will pull through.
I hope Paypal India launches soon though.
I created a transaction of Rs 500 in early june thorugh Wallet 365.
I the cancelled the transaction but the money was debited from my bank account.
I wrote to wallet 365 to get the money back but it has been 1 month but I have not yet got my money back.
no body is taking responsiblity.
I get mail from so called “Project Manager” of Wallet365 Kamlesh even he has not been able to do anything.
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hi
i tried the service. its great. transfered money in a jiffy to my friend. the service also allows you to pay money directly to any bank account in india. no more sending cheques for me!
Hi All,
Wallet 365 will take time to break the ice, but their is not dought about the success.Majority of us really need such kind of facility (online payment).
I hope TOI could manage technical issues, its not easy at all.
Hello,
Good that TOI taken initiative in India for email payment in INR. But they need to respond fast to merchant.I have opend an account with them and requested to insert my business link to e-shop list of wallet365 home page no one replyied properway and my link not get insertred although 2 weeks left. This is clear case for laking customer focus.
Can we add money to our wallet365 account from our credit card using wallet365.com,and is it safe to enter your pan details ? I tried opening an account with wallet365.com twice but stopped when it asked for pan details as i feel it may invite trouble later on from the tax authorities.Why is it that they are only asking for pan no as identification mode,there are many other things also like passport,driving licence election card etc.
I have a question — Why doesn’t paypal just step up to the plate and start working with INR?
pls i want to know may i can us paypla to pay my goods form rediff shop pls tell me ok thanks
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can i send money through pay pal to my friend in china does it require account number
Hello Sir,
can you pls fund my paypal account from India?
thanks,
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Just out of curiosity, I visited wallet365.com . The site does not show up in my Opera and IE browsers. Where is the need for such redundant payment gateway?