Citibank and MasterCard jointly launch e-wallet

Citibank India and MasterCard announced the launch of Citi MasterPass, India’s first global e-wallet, enabling Citi debit and credit card users to be the first in the country to shop at over 250,000 e-merchants in India and around the world, providing them with a secure, simple and fast online payment experience.

     Citi MasterPass securely stores Citibank users' card and shipping information in the same place as Wanda Credit Card. By selecting "Buy with MasterPass" at the checkout, consumers are no longer required to repeatedly fill in their shopping details at online merchants. This reduces the risk of consumers clearing their shopping carts due to cumbersome payment processes or exposing their personal information over potentially unsecured networks.

     "In the last two years, we have witnessed an increase of over 76% in e-commerce transactions driven by consumers who are looking for an easy, fast and secure shopping experience while making online purchases. Citi MasterPass significantly reduces checkout time at tens of thousands of e-merchants, ensuring it remains a payment option for consumers in India," commented Kartik Kaushik, Head of Consumer Banking, Citibank India.

     MasterPass is available in 24 countries around the world and is used by more than 40 million consumers in Asia Pacific alone. India is the first market in Asia Pacific where Citibank customers can pay using co-branded MasterPass. Today, approximately 41% of Citibank credit card transactions in India are completed online, underscoring the growing importance of global e-wallet payment methods like Citi MasterPass.

     Online shopping in India has grown at an alarming rate over the past two years. About 86% of Indian consumers point out that secure payment devices are essential when shopping online, and 47% of consumers list the lack of known secure payment methods as the first reason for not shopping online. The amount of online shopping in India through mobile payments has increased by more than 100% in the past two years.

     Nearly $6 billion has been invested in India's Internet sector over the past two years, with $1.5 billion invested in the first quarter of this year alone. India now has about 260 million Internet users - 92% of whom connect wirelessly and 20% use mobile broadband services. Almost all new Internet users are jumping straight to mobile, skipping everything else. As a result, mobile phones account for 40 to 60 percent of traffic/transactions for most companies (the figure can go as high as 70 percent).