MobiKwik's new Lite app will let you go cashless on any network, any phone in India

Amid India’s transition to new currency notes, epayment solutions are leaving no stones unturned to emerge as a viable substitute for paper cash.

Today MobiKwik announced a 'Lite' version of its Android app that merchants can install on their phones and cater to even those users who rock a feature phone. The app also supports slow networks such as Edge and local language Hindi for wider reach.

Though India is the world's fastest growing smartphone market, feature phones still dominate in the country. Compared to roughly 300 smartphones India has, there are over 700 feature phones.

MobiKwik Lite can be installed on any Android phone running Gingerbread or above. Once a merchant has installed it on their device, they can generate a URL which is sent to the consumer via a text message. Users, who could be on any internet-enabled phone, then click the URL on a mobile browser and complete the payment, Bipin Preet Singh, CEO and co-founder of MobiKwik explained to Mashable India.

Though the Lite app has been aimed at merchants, Singh says that anyone can download it on their smartphone and utilize several of the features that they see on the full-fledged MobiKwik app. The Lite app offers functionalities such as transferring money to a bank, receiving payment, peer-to-peer money exchange, ability to pay for bills and online recharges.

Merchants who wish to download the MobiKwik Lite version can either download the app from the website, or give a phone call to a certain phone number (80971-80971) and receive the download link in a text message.

"By end of this week, the app will be available in all major Indian languages and soon, MobiKwik Lite will work without any net connectivity too, therefore addressing all the challenges being faced by masses in accessing wallet payments, be it language, connectivity or quality of smartphones,” Singh said in a statement.

Amid India’s major push to transition to new currency notes, mobile wallet apps have observed astronomical growth in daily transactions and several other parameters. MobiKwik’s rival app Paytm announced last week that it was handling more transactions in a day than all plastic cards combined.