SBI TO LAUNCH m POS

State Bank of India has partnered with payments service provider, Ezetap Mobile Solutions, to deploy mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) solution. SBI plans to deploy 5,00,000 point-of-sale terminals within the next five years, it said in a release. "Mobile POS has the power to transform payments and commerce. It can be deployed easily and at low cost in every corner of the country," SBI's deputy managing director S K Mishra said. The SBI-Ezetap platform would allow the bank to provide value-added services for merchants and consumers from a single, secure POS device and application, he added. With smartphones and tablets becoming cheap and pervasive, the mPOS market is expected to grow exponentially and account for a significant percentage of transactions and new terminals deployed across the region over the next five years. The Ezetap solution turns any merchant's mobile device into a point-of-sale that is able to read any type of card and complete any type of financial transaction ranging from a credit card sale to a real-time bill payment, to an ATM cash withdrawal or deposit. The mPOS solution will be made available to the customers of both SBI as well as its associate banks across the country.