Now, you can send money through a social network

You can now send and receive money through your preferred social network and messaging platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.

Oxigen wallet, a mobile wallet from payment solutions firm Oxigen Services, is being billed as India’s first mobile wallet to enable money transfers through social networks.

The service, driven by an app, is bank and telecom operator agnostic. Anyone with a mobile handset, irrespective of the telecom operator, can download the app and use the wallet.

To provide this service, Oxigen has partnered with Singapore headquartered Fastacash, a global platform that allows users to transfer money, airtime, and other tokens of value along with digital content (photos, videos, audios, messages) through social networks.

Once a user downloads the app, cash has to be loaded into the mobile wallet. This can be done through a debit card, credit card or by going to select corporate partner outlets, such as ‘The Mobile Store’.

After that the app has to be launched and money can be sent to any non-wallet user, transferred either to his bank account, or as value to his social network account (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp etc). The social network account holder can then use the money to avail of services on as many as 2,000 partner websites that Oxigen has tied up with.

Given its social nature, the service may find good traction among the youth, who go out for meals with friends, split bills, and send smaller but more frequent gifts to one another. In addition, they can use the service for mobile bill recharges and bill payments besides payments on merchant sites (movie, travel tickets etc).

The Reserve Bank of India has capped the value that can be transferred through such services at ₹5,000 per transaction.

By using the Oxigen wallet service — available through the Apple store and Google Play — users can easily send money to their friends and family through social channels without needing the receiver’s bank account details, said Pramod Saxena, Chairman & Managing Director of Oxigen Services.

“Merging payments with social and mobile will change the way people pay for their everyday needs, Saxena said here on Wednesday after the launch.

Speaking to BusinessLine , Deputy Managing Director Sunil Kulkarni said Oxigen Services is keen to transform itself into a payments bank, adding that the company would apply for such a licence once the RBI comes up with final guidelines later this year.

“It’s a process that will take six-nine months before a final provisional licence can be issued by RBI for a payments bank. We are very keen to participate in it,” said Kulkarni.

Such a licence will allow Oxigen to offer customers bank accounts (up to ₹1 lakh), rural bank accounts, VISA / MasterCard / RUPAY debit cards and receive remittances from abroad.

“If the pre-paid wallet market for Oxigen is X, using the payment bank will become 10X,” Kulkarni said.

A payments bank is allowed to accept deposits and facilitate payments and remittances but cannot lend.