Nokia to shut down mobile money business.

Nokia’s mobile money was launched in 2010 through a partnership with YES Bank and it later signed up with Union Bank to offer other payment services. In December, last year, Nokia also announced the pan-India launch of its independent Nokia Money service that was brought to the Indian market about two years back. According to a report by The Hindu, the Finnish firm is now all set to exit this mobile money business, which is said to be a global strategy to move out of non-core areas. In India, mobile money has been slowly being accepted, although not a wide scale. Recent development in this space has been the launch of Airtel Money, which has flashed some TV commercials to further push the availability and presence of mobile wallet services.

The service was also put forth independently under the Nokia Money brand with 2 lakh subscribers while overall it has 1.2 million subscribers considering all three platforms. Based on Obopay's mobile payment platform, it is also launched in other countries.

Obviously, subscribers relying on Nokia Money services will have to opt for other money transfer means. Apparently, Nokia will still continue the service for about 2-3 months, allowing its subscribers to use the money they’ve deposited. By shutting this service, Nokia will also refund subscribers’ registration fees and surrender the licence it has acquired for this service. Apparently, subscribers of Yes Bank and Union may not be affected as the banks will take over the platform. Nokia has about 100 employees working directly for the mobile money business. Reportedly, Nokia chose not to comment on the matter but one of its partners confirmed the development.

We’ve seen other players in the mobile money space such as Airtel, HDFC, MasterCard and Visa. Nokia which has almost bounced back with its mobile phone segment, if we may say so, probably decides on concentrating on core segments further.