50p weekly reading list #8–29 Nov 2017
Here’s what’s new this week.
Paytm Payments Bank launched
Paytm Payments Bank was formally launched by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. IMPS is live on Paytm payments bank and supposedly has 9% of overall IMPS market share. Paytm expects to be one of the largest IMPS and UPI users in the country and promises no transaction fees on online transactions for a consumer in perpetuity in addition to offering a free zero balance account. Paytm also plans to issue RuPay debit cards, aims to have 1 Lakh Paytm ATMs through business correspondents model and 31 physical branches by March 2018.
Six mobile manufacturers planning to pre-install BHIM app
6 mobile manufacturers have agreed to pre-load the NPCI developed UPI app — BHIM on their devices and many others have shown similar interest, reports DNA, citing a senior official in Ministry of Electronics & IT.
RBI 7th Mint Street Memos — From Cash to Non-cash and Cheque to Digital: The Unfolding Revolution in India’s Payment Systems
Members of Department of Statistics and Information Management of RBI published an analysis of India’s payment systems and the study noted that demonetization had resulted in a “fundamental shift” in the payment habits in the economy-a move away from cash payments to and a wider adoption of retail electronic payments, card usage at merchant terminals and cheques
Bitcoin hits $10,000
The price of Bitcoin has seen a rapid rise in the past few weeks and has now hit the $10000 mark. As Coin Desk reports, “With the move, bitcoin is now up more than 900 percent on a year-to-date basis, with prices climbing 230 percent since a low of $3,000 in mid-September.”. That’s an incredible growth rate for the cryptocurrency, and it remains to be seen now if it’ll hit the $100,000 mark as predicted by a few enthusiasts.
Govt. seeks say in how data is evaluated
The Indian Government has invited suggestions on how data should be regulated in India. At the recent Global Conference for Cyber Security, data regulation, evaluation and governance were brought up. The Govt. is looking to prevent the creation of monopolies in internet businesses.
Store your gift cards on your phone!
Samsung has partnered with Qwikcilver to bring gift cards to Samsung Pay. The new partnership will allow Samsung Pay users to purchase and store the gift cards in the Samsung Pay app, and also use them at all retail locations which have a Point of Sale device. The move comes after Samsung has been aggressively supporting more banks and wallets on its service.
Save more on transaction fees when paying online
After a few banks announced a reduction in the transaction charges on IMPS and RTGS, the cost of making a digital transaction has significantly gone down. If you’re wondering how much it would cost to transact online, here’s a handy guide. Banks are now reducing transaction feeds to encourage more digital transactions on their platform.
PoS manufacturers are now offering more services to differentiate their products
After the Government’s aggressive push to increase the adoption of card acceptance at retail locations, the prevalence of PoS devices has significantly increased over the last year. With this, there was also an aggressive reduction in the transaction charges for cards, which forced firms to look to other revenue streams to finance the digital drive. Now, a few companies are starting to offer more services on these devices such as app marketplaces to enable developers to build apps to provide functions like accounting and commerce.
Electric vehicles can now charge up with e-payments
The Government is looking into the use of e-payments for recharging of electric vehicles at paid charging stations. The system is said to have a wallet linked to the Vehicle Identification Number or VIN, which would be automatically debited based on the number of units consumed. The wallet can be topped up using UPI, BharatQR or similar digital payment services. This integration will allow electric cars to seamlessly charge and complete the payment at charging stations.
To receive these posts in your inbox every week, sign up for the mailing list.
50p by HasGeek focuses on conversations surrounding technology, policy and regulations in the Indian digital payments ecosystem. The third edition of conference is scheduled on Feb 8,9 in Bangalore. Head over to https://50p.in/2018/ to get your tickets now!
