No internet? No problem. Your mobile wallet can still make payments.

Photo credit: Klozest.

The cash crunch in India – because of low caps on withdrawals from ATMs and banks – keeps tripping me up. The other day at a kebab joint, my digital wallet payment failed because of either a network or server problem. The restaurant had no card swipe machine either, and I had too little cash.

Others have had more serious problems than going without kebabs. But it turns out there’s a tech solution for all these situations. Wallets could use radio signals from smartphones to transmit payments even when mobile and internet networks are unavailable.

A new startup, Klozest, based in the Bay Area and Bangalore, is in talks with leading wallets in India to integrate its SDK (software development kit) into their apps to enable such payments. It requires no internet, or bluetooth, or the NFC chips used by Apple Pay.

These transactions require no cellular data connection, and can be reconciled with the wallet’s backend server once the user enters a wifi zone. As such, it can bring digital payments to hundreds of millions in India who can’t afford internet connectivity and mobile data charges even if they have budget smartphones.

See: India’s PM launches a stripped-down app for mobile payments

Even food stalls can go cashless. Photo credit: Wikimedia.

The technology is similar to that of a local wireless mesh network using radio nodes to connect phones in their vicinity. Social networking app FireChat, for example, works even without an internet connection or cellular phone coverage. It can be used in an aircraft or even a disaster zone where networks are down.

Whereas a mesh network relays signals from node to node, the Klozest Pay system turns a phone into an access point, like a wifi hotspot. A merchant can toggle a button in his wallet app to broadcast himself as a recipient of payments. A wallet user within a radius of 40-50 feet can open her app to choose from a list of those accepting payments in the vicinity. The transaction is one-to-one.

The user doesn’t need a phone number or QR code or the virtual address used for apps based on India’s new unified payments interface. Inputting phone numbers or clicking pictures of QR codes or relying on internet connectivity are challenges in many scenarios in India. Klozest offers a one-click option that does away with the need for all that.

See: Paytm founder prepares for his next pivot, which could be the biggest yet

Bridging two generations

The two co-founders of Klozest are both from one of India’s top engineering colleges, BITS Pilani. But they have a generation gap.

Ashish Mukherji graduated from college 35 years ago and rose to senior positions in global companies like AT&T, Infosys, and HCL in India and abroad. He’s now a Bay Area entrepreneur.

What wallets want