New Delhi: Axis Bank is in advanced stages of beta testing a new method of using mobile phones to make payments. The service is expected to be fully launched in just three months. A pilot study involving 500 customers of Axis Bank is currently being conducted at various locations. If this mobile payment method is implemented, users can swipe their mobile phone and conduct various transactions, which were earlier possible using the credit cards.

Atom Technologies, a subsidiary of the BSE-listed Financial Technologies (India) Ltd (FTIL), which runs the Multi Commodity Exchange of India has innovated a technology, which will enable mobile payments. Atom card- a product developed by the company and the accompanying software can embed a user's credit card data, over-the air like SMS into his mobile phone.

A 2-D bar code will store this credit card detail, which will be unreadable for the user and will keep the credit card details safe even when the mobile phone is stolen or lost. Whenever, the mobile phone user has to make a payment he will have to provide his PIN details. After embedding the credit card details into the mobile phone, the instrument can be used in place of credit cards.

Purchases can be made at a merchant establishment, which has the requisite software to implement the transaction. The company has called this swiping model as 'optical payment' and has received a patent in US for this payment mode. A simple webcam is required to read the 2-D bar code and can be implemented at merchant establishments at a very low cost.

The software required to implement mobile transactions will be provided free of cost to merchants, banks and customers by Atom. However, this technology will be available for JAVA enabled phones at present. Many other companies like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and C-Sam were also looking at offering mobile commerce solutions, but the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is yet to give its clearance for a mobile wallet service in India.