The mobile commerce (mCommerce) offering, Airtel Money, allows customers to make cashless payments using their mobile phones – anytime, anywhere.

Customers need to load cash on their mobile from the Airtel retail outlets. Similar to the credit card or debit card, a customer instead of paying cash can pay over-the-counter merchants using the mobile phone, said Mr Sriram Jagannathan, CEO, mCommerce, Airtel, which had first launched the service in the National Capital Region.

Airtel in Chennai has partnered with around 750 prominent merchants, including Oriental Cuisines (which runs Benjarong, Zara, Cascade and French Loaf restaurants), Univercell, Poorvika, Inox, Bharti AXA and LIC.

Once registered with Airtel, the existing Airtel SIM will be upgraded to the new 64K Airtel SIM with Airtel Money at no additional cost, he told newspersons on the launch of the service in the city.

In 2010, Bharti Airtel was granted the licence to use the Semi-Closed Wallet by the Reserve Bank of India.