Date:27/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/03/27/stories/2006032702150200.htm

Back TCS working on mobile phone banking technology

Our Bureau

MR. S. RAMADORAI

Pune , March 26

Will mobile phones remain telephone instruments? Or would they take on the hues of entertainment or even allow banking facilities to happen?

Mr S. Ramadorai, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Tata Consultancy Services, feels that mobile phones would become more of a utility device and would shed their image as a normal phone.

The company is already conducting pilot projects in South-East Asia where it is trying to incorporate a chip inside a mobile phone which would help in banking transactions.

Talking to presspersons on the sidelines of the Pune Annual Day of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Mr Ramadorai said technology and the incorporation of cards in mobile phones had already been done. He said as an initial step, this technology would be used in the banking industry. "The idea is to conduct payments by making a call and not use cheques as instruments,'' he said.

He said security and legal issues would have to be taken into account.