Mumbai, Oct 8 (IANS): The ICICI Bank on Thursday launched a service enabling customers to make electronic payments from their smartphones at physical stores, e-commerce portals, radio taxis and utility billers, among others, without swiping a debit card.

The service is based on 'mVisa', a new mobile payment solution from Visa. ICICI Bank, India's largest private bank, is the first bank globally to launch a mobile app based on 'mVisa' solution for consumers and merchants.

The service is applicable only for Visa cards.

"We believe that this solution will herald a shift in the adoption of electronic payments in the country," the bank's executive director, Rajiv Sabharwal said in a statement.

He said that while there are 570 million debit cards in the country, there are only 1.1 million point-of-sale machines available for card payments which restricts cashless payments to be made only at a certain category of merchants.

The service has been introduced for its customers in Bengaluru only with 1,500 merchants brought under the fold of mobile electronic payments. The service will be rolled out in other cities shortly.

To use this payment solution, users need to click on the 'mVisa' icon on the bank's Pockets app.

The process involves scanning a Quick Response code at a merchant location without swiping the card.