Vodafone M-Pesa Users Allowed to Withdraw Cash from outlets like Big Bazar
Don’t stand in queues at bank for withdrawing cash. Don’t stand in queues in front of ATMs for withdrawing cash. Don’t these statements sound heavenly music to your ears? That is precisely what Vodafone and Big Bazar are saying. What do we mean? How will you get cash from other places? Let us find out…
M-Pesa Users to Get Cash from Vodafone Outlets
Vodafone has a full-time digital wallet known as M-Pesa. This wallet has been around for over 1 year now. Until the demonetization, M-Pesa was nothing more than yet another digital wallet. Demonetization has however worked in favor of the telecom giant as it is now putting its digital wallet to good use.
If you have M-Pesa installed and if you have registered with M-Pesa service, you can now get cash. You don’t have to stand in long queues in front of banks or ATMs. Your life will be simplified. Vodafone has rolled out a feature known as ‘cash out’. All that the users need to do is to visit the nearest Vodafone outlet with their phones.
This how M-Pesa Cash Out feature will work:
| Steps | What is to be done |
| 1 | Install M-Pesa on your phone. |
| 2 | Load money to your M-Pesa account directly from your bank using the internet banking service or by using your debit or ATM card. |
| 3 | Visit the nearest Vodafone store with your phone. |
| 4 | Give your phone number to the service personnel and ask for the amount of cash that you need. |
| 5 | Service personnel will hand over the cash amount to you and deduct an equivalent amount directly from your M-Pesa account. |
Since the money will be deducted directly from your M-Pesa account, the transaction will be completed quickly. You don’t need to stand in long queues at banks or in front of ATMs. However, this facility will work as long as Vodafone stores will have cash available. As soon as cash runs out, the service will stop.
There are more than 1 lakh Vodafone outlets across India and this service can be availed directly from any store. M-Pesa’s business head in India, Mr. Suresh Sethi says that even non-Vodafone users can avail this service by installing the app and registering with it. Unlike banks which will require customers to visit their respective branches, M-Pesa will work across all 120,000 touch points. There is no such regional restriction. However, people will usually do to their nearest touch point.
M-Pesa is available for both Android and iOS users. It is open for everyone and the app can also be used for paying DHT bills, mobile bills and electricity bills and any other utility bill. All bills are paid electronically, eliminating the need of any cash transaction.
Two Important Things to Remember About Cash Out of M-Pesa
Though it is easy to use M-Pesa for withdrawing cash from Vodafone outlets, there are two important things that users need to keep in mind. They are:
- The users need to carry an identity card. No identity card, no cash.
- The users will have to stick to cash withdrawal limit as mentioned by Reserve Bank of India. This means that no more than INR 2000 can be withdrawn at a time in a single day.
Also, as mentioned before, the M-Pesa account needs to have money. People need to make sure that they load their accounts with the necessary amount. Credit and debit cards as well as net banking can be used for the purpose.
What About Big Bazar?
Big Bazar has no digital wallet to offer. Big Bazar has ties with State Bank of India. This has allowed the supermarket chain to offer cash withdrawals directly from their outlets. SBI has introduced what is known as Cash at Point of Sale machines where people can swipe their debit cards and get cash from the counters.
To deal with the huge demand, Big Bazar outlets have installed dedicated swiping machines. People are allowed to make only one transaction in a day and the cash limit is restricted to INR 2000 a day. No more than that will be allowed through Big Bazar outlets.
Big Bazar has reported that morning is usually the rush hour time and the crowd usually thins out by the time it is noon.
Withdrawing money from Big Bazar outlets or Vodafone touch points do not call for any additional cost and all transactions are free. For Big Bazar, all cards are accepted and there is no separate charge for that as per RBI instructions. Big Bazar is hoping that they will be raking up more cash at their stores pretty soon.
Conclusion
These moves by Vodafone and Big Bazar are welcome moves and good news for customers however, the success of these moves will depend on the availability of the cash. If the outlets of Vodafone and Big Bazar are ill-equipped with cash, the whole purpose of the move will be defeated. Hence, these organizations should make necessary arrangements.
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