India-based software company Financial Technologies (FT) is showcasing its new payment system using mobile phones at the GITEX fair, bringing the technology to the region for the first time.

FT director Arshad Khan told ArabianBusiness.com that the payment 'Atom - a New Way to Pay' would allow customers in the Gulf to pay securely for items such as cinema tickets and fast food orders using their mobile.

"We are getting enormous response from merchants, particularly from cinemas here," said Khan at the response at GITEX. "You can pay for your cinema tickets over the phone and have them guaranteed when you arrive."

FT, a $3.2 billion company specialising in software solutions for the financial market, is based in India with offices in Dubai and the USA.

In November 2005 it entered into a joint venture with the Dubai government to create the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), an online commodities exchange which was the first of its type in the Middle East. Khan said that the company also had software applications allowing customers in the region to see live rates and trade on stock and commodities markets using their mobile.

"As you can see on this mobile phone, I am connected live with all the stock markets in this region using GPRS," said Khan. "As a dealer, you can be anywhere in the world and still connected with the market."

The application can also send alerts to say that a stock is losing value and needs to be sold, Khan said.

"Our objective to make m-commerce a real m-commerce," said Khan, referring to commercial transactions by mobiles.

"These are real m-commerce and e-commerce initiatives in the line of the financial services, and this is how you can really automate the whole transaction life-cycle."