Reliance Communications, on Wednesday announced the service readiness of its USSD platform-based mobile banking services to enable banking transactions for its customers. Users can dial *99# short code on their handset, which will allow all customers to access banking service across 29 nationalized banks with a single number—irrespective of the  mobile handset, make or region.
 
RCOM has integrated NPCI (National Payment Corporation of India) gateways with the charging systems and USSD gateways located in Mumbai. NPCI will manage the banking menu and call flow with respective banks.
 
“Financial inclusion is a national priority and we are proud to launch this platform which can offer basic financial services even in areas that are beyond the reach of traditional banking. Mobile technology has a crucial role to play in servicing the under-banked and un-banked sections of society, and RCOM’s endeavor is to bridge this gap with its customized solutions,” said Vinod Sawhny, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Communications.
 
“This is going to be a game-changer in mobile banking services—not only will this take telcos closer to banks, it will also cover all types of Customers”, added Alpna J Doshi, Reliance Communications’ Chief Information Officer.
 
RCOM successfully completed the testing of the service at Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City, Navi Mumbai, on various types of GSM handsets. The infrastructure provided is over the secured point-to-point VPN (Virtual Private Network). Subscribers will be charged INR 1.50 per session, as mandated by TRAI.