In the next two to three years, mobile phones will play a key role in moving cash-based transactions to electronic platforms. The year 2011 will be an inflection point, and thereafter there will be a big upswing in mobile payments, according to Ajay Adiseshann, founder and MD of mobile payment company PayMate.

India is largely a cash-based economy and many use debit cards to withdraw cash and make payments. Usage of debit cards for electronic payments is still miniscule. “Presently, there are about 580 million mobile subscribers, of which about 400-450 million will be unique subscribers, and there are about 200 million bank accounts. This means there’re about 300 million subscribers with mobile phones who don’t have

a bank account,” Adiseshann said.

Paymate has tied up with over 30 banks for payments, and one bank for green money transfer. Referring to UID, he said, we are uniquely positioned as we have multiple bank partners, to exploit UID framework, going forward. But, it all depends on how the framework evolves and how many people avail the service.

PayMate, in tied up with fleet management solution provider, Mahaventures, to launch WAYPAY, which enables fleet operators manage all in-route expenses from nominated retail outlets, without cash.