It’s called Hike!
And, it follows right on tracks with its Chinese backer, Tencent, in mobile wallet efficiency.
For the first time in India, instant P2P money transfer transactions can now go mobile with Hike Messenger, the latest app developed by a crew of an India-born start-up, which holds a partnership with the country’s leading bank, YesBank, and the Government-backed Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
The enterprise takes cue from a Chinese backer, Tencent, which had initially introduced the app to a proven success earlier in the PRC, it is learnt.
With the arrival of this app, branded as ‘BluePackets’, tens of millions of mobile wallet users can now send and receive money instantly, on their smart phones – a revolutionary concept in a country, boasting the second largest mobile phone population in the world.
Hike handles instant bank-to-bank money transfers for free, even if the recipient is not on Hike. And, for those mobile phone users who do not use a bank account, P2P payment options are offered within the Hike app, using the mobile wallet function.
The mobile wallet allows the user to top-up the balance at will, and then pay postpaid bills by merely transferring funds from the wallet. This could be one’s own bills or even those of others.
The app allows up to 10 different virtual ‘envelopes’ to be stuffed with money and space for personal messages, and then transfer funds to another beneficiary who uses a smart phone or a bank account. It’s Person-to-Person (P2P) money transfer at its easiest convenience!
Kavin Bharti Mittal, CEO, Hike Messenger, says: “With Blue Packets, we’re going to change the way people send and receive money. We believe we can make that experience fun and also a new form of messaging.
“Can money be the new Sticker? We believe so. That’s the idea. Our users celebrate so many special moments in their lives. It could be from a simple Thank You or Congratulations to a Happy Birthday. We hope with Blue Packets we can give our users a new avenue to express themselves.”
Hike, which claims more than 100 million registered users, has stolen a march on Facebook-owned WhatsApp, which is widely expected to roll out a UPI-based P2P payments service in India in the next few months.
