‘53% Indians worry over security in mobile financial services’

 Fifty-three per cent of Indian respondents to a recent survey conducted by a US-based company have cited security as a concern on the use of mobile financial services (MFS). Forty-eight <g data-gr-id="29">per cent</g> responded positively on “the ease of use” and 46 <g data-gr-id="30">per cent</g> on “the ability to use the service anywhere” in the country in the market study that covered 2,200 people in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The survey conducted by US-based software and services provider found that 24 <g data-gr-id="26">per cent</g> with bank accounts were not aware of the MFS in India. The survey concluded that 24 <g data-gr-id="27">per cent</g> of the Indians will use MFS for paying for education, medical treatment and utility bills and 28 per cent for loans, savings and insurance.

However, as many as 53 per cent Indians said security remained a concern on the use of MFS. 

Conducted by analyst and consultancy firm Ovum for Amdocs, the survey found that over 70 <g data-gr-id="32">per cent</g> of the Asia-Pacific market was still not using the MFS. Amdocs provides its services to more than 250 communications, media and entertainment service providers in more than 80 countries, including India.

“While the vast majority of the population in countries like India, the Philippines and Indonesia are still unbanked, there is also a growing middle-class who needs convenient solution for money transfer, online shopping, utility bill payments and other financial services,” Sharath Dorbala, head of sales, marketing and products for MFS at Amdocs said. According to the findings of this new survey, mobile service providers need to deliver solutions that provide basic banking services along with <g data-gr-id="34">convenience</g> of payment for various services.

Elaborating on the Indian market, a senior Amdocs executive said India’s 2G network was good enough for MFS. “The mobile financial application service doesn’t need the high bandwidth, fast speed and big capacity. The 2G is good enough for these data transferring services,” said Uri Gurevitz, director of marketing, Market Insight & Strategy at Amdocs (Israel) Ltd.