Central Bank of India customer wins Rs 1 cr under Modi's cashless scheme

BREAKING NEWS - A transaction of Rs 1,590 has bagged a Central Bank of India customer a lucky bounty of Rs 1 crore under the Modi government's promotional scheme to popularise digital payments.

President Pranab Mukherjee picked up the lucky winners from the 100th draw of lots under digital payments promotion schemes at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

He congratulated the six winners — three consumers and three merchants — under the Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana.

In the consumer section, the first mega prize of Rs 1 crore went to a customer of Central Bank of India, while the second prize of Rs 50 lakh went to a Bank of Baroda customer. A customer of Punjab National Bank is the winner of third prize of Rs 25 lakh.

All the three customers had conducted transactions using their RuPay debit cards. The names of three winners were not yet known as the draw only displayed their transaction numbers. These will be matched with card details to identify the winners.

Three merchants also won prizes of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 12 lakh, respectively.

The winners will be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14 at Nagpur on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti. (READ MORE)

Another new note, this time for Rs 200, from RBI on its way?

Are you tired of receiving higher denominations of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes? Or are you still grappling under the effects of demonetisation where Rs 100 notes are a rare sight at Automated teller machines (ATMs)? Worry no more —The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cleared a proposal to inject Rs 200 notes around June, 2017.

The development comes after anonymous sources revealed that the decision was taken at the RBI board meeting in March, Live Mint reported.

The move comes against the backdrop of government’s aim to rework the Indian monetary system. An RBI spokesperson declined to comment.

Even though the RBI lifted all cash withdrawal caps from ATM and banks on March 13, 2017, operators say there is a dearth of lower denomination banknotes.

The RBI board has 14 members, including Urjit Patel, four deputy governors, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das.

Narendra Modi government's surprise move on November 8 to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes has posed some temporary trouble for consumers in a cash-dominant economy like India, putting 86 per cent of the currency out of circulation. (READ MORE)

Aadhaar linking to everything poses serious national security challenges

The widespread adoption of Aadhaar numbers and linkages to Unique Identification (UID) programme databases for the purpose of authenticating sensitive transactions should give pause to India’s foreign policy and military planners. That Aadhaar is a centralised database, and therefore susceptible to cyber attacks, is already known. But pervasive “Aadhaar-isation” brings together systems and platforms in a digital ecosystem without interoperable standards for security.

The UID is device-agnostic. Whether an Indian enters her Aadhaar number into a virus-infested desktop at a local cyber cafe or a highly secure iPhone, her device is linked to and authenticated by the Aadhaar database. In almost all cases, there is a two-step authentication process, involving a one-time password from the user. The UID Authority of India claims such authentication (at its most basic level) is a simply “Yes/No” interaction of the Aadhaar database with the machine, and that no biometric or personal information is sent back. Biometric or demographic records of Indians are available today in multiple databases, and hardly an invitation to target Aadhaar servers. Based on the specific transaction involved – filing tax returns, transferring money or purchasing health insurance – Aadhaar, however, creates a “map of maps” of Indians identifying, the platform, device, location and successful/failed attempts at authentication. Coupled with the demographic data that can anyway be extracted from an insecure mobile phone or app, this Aadhaar authentication data is of strategic value to a foreign adversary. (READ MORE)

Remove service tax on card-based transactions: Indepay

Latest Business News - Payments firm Indepay Networks on Friday urged the government to remove service tax from all card-based transactions to promote digital payments.

"Removal of service tax in case of all card-based transactions is essential. This exemption should, in fact, apply to banking correspondents as well, in order to extend the reach of financial inclusion to the remote and under- banked and non-banked areas of the country," Indepay Network President and CEO Rajib Saha said in a statement.

He also emphasised on the need to encourage digitisation of agriculture cooperative societies, Regional Rural Banks, and Cooperative Banks.

The prepaid network of Indepay works in collaboration with banks, existing payment networks and wallets to enable cashless transactions.(Read More) 

Online shopping zoomed 83% in 2016: Report

Latest Bussiness News - The e-commerce revolution has led to the rise of online shopping by 83 per cent in 2016, said a report by leading digital payments firm PayPal and global market research firm Ipsos on Thursday.

"Indian online shoppers spent Rs 58,370 crore online shopping from other countries last year," revealed the third Annual Global Cross-Border Consumer Research 2016 report.

Shopping on dedicated websites accounted for 53 per cent of online spending, 29 per cent through its application and 10 per cent through social media sites.

The report also estimated that cross-border online spending by Indian shoppers would grow a whopping 85 per cent in 2017.

"Online spends from domestic and cross border shopping is projected to touch Rs 875,600 crore in 2018, registering 31 per cent year-on-year growth in 2017," it said.

The research report is an evaluation of online and cross-border shopping by 28,000 consumers across 32 nations, including 800 from India.

"The internet has democratised cross border trade. The freelance economy has grown in India," said PayPal India Managing Director Anupam Pahuja in a statement, released along with the research report.(Read More)

Paytm introduces new features for users and merchants

Digital payments firm Paytm brings its users the newly added features to its mobile app to offer a more intuitive user experience while introducing an array of new features ranging from being able to accept up to Rs. 50,000 for merchants and additional security layers for users.

The updated app remains light and loads 3X faster even on low-end smartphones and slow network areas.

Here's a few features launched on the app:

Self-declared merchants can now accept up to Rs. 50,000 directly in their bank accounts- The merchants can now self-declare themselves on the app itself and start accepting up to Rs. 50,000 directly in their bank accounts.

The amount is settled at midnight every day and the settlement charges remain zero percent. As mentioned by Paytm, the bank settlement charges will stay at zero percent when amount would be settled to merchants' Paytm Payments Bank account.

To self-declare, merchants need to tap on 'Accept Payment' in the updated Paytm app, select 'Bank Account', enter bank details and confirm. Wallet balance of a self-declared merchant should not exceed Rs 20,000 post which the amount is settled directly to the merchant's bank account.(Read More)

Paytm to transfer wallet biz to payments bank

Latest Business News - Digital payments firm Paytm on Tuesday said its wallet business will soon be transferred to its payments bank but quashed social media rumours that the m-wallets will stop working after January 15.

"There are some rumours circulating that you will not be able to use the Paytm Wallet after 15th January! Nothing could be farther from the truth. On the contrary, Paytm Wallet users will soon enjoy additional benefits through Paytm Payments Bank Account," Paytm said in a blog post.

The hoax message claims that since Paytm is converting into a payments bank post January 15, users will not be able to transact with their Paytm wallet money, it said.

The company noted that the Paytm Wallet will soon be transferred to the newly incorporated Paytm Payments Bank automatically but added that the m-wallets will work even after January 15.

Stating that this is just a "transfer of ownership of wallet to a new company called Paytm Payments Bank Ltd", Paytm said customers will be given an option to open a separate bank account when the bank launches its services.(Read More)

MobiKwik offers zero surcharge at petrol pumps to boost digital payments

Latest Business News - Domestic mobile wallet platform MobiKwik on Tuesday announced zero surcharge on all transactions at petrol pumps and LPG gas payments.

"The announcement of zero surcharge on all petrol pumps and LPG transactions will benefit consumers and will motivate them to continue using digital payments," said Upasana Taku, Co-founder of MobiKwik, in a statement.

MobiKwik is currently accepted across petrol pumps and gas stations in 20 cities that includes all major Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum pumps in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Hyderabad, among others.

The company also powers digital payments for LPG companies like Indane, Bharat Gas and HP.

MobiKwik has also launched a lighter version of its app named MobiKwik lite in Hindi, English and Gujarati for tier 2 and tier 3 cities across India.(Read More)

From Paytm to Freecharge, feature phones get a digi-wallet push

Breaking News - In an effort to bring every mobile phone user into the fold of the digital economy, mobile wallet companies are churning out a host of digital wallets that work on feature phones.

From state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to mobile wallets such as FreeCharge, Oxigen and Paytm, every player is either coming out or already has introduced mobile wallets for feature phones. Feature phones incorporate the ability to access the Internet and store and play music but lack the advanced functionality of smartphones.

In India, around 140 million feature phones are sold in a year and these constitute nearly half of the total mobile phone user base. According to industry experts, to make digitisation a success it is extremely important to reach out to this market. Most of the users of feature phones are in small towns and rural areas but a chunk is also found in cities (Read More).

Paytm launches 100-member merchant helpdesk to educate on digital payments

 

Breaking News - Mobile payment and e-commerce platform Paytm on Monday announced a 100-member 'merchant helpdesk', announcing that it will invest Rs 50 crore towards educating merchants on digital payments across the country.

The helpdesk will educate users about why the delay in transfer in a few cases, which happens due to the banking systems that are going through stress owing to load spikes or may not respond due to downtime or network fluctuation at the their end.

"It is our utmost priority to educate our partners who accept payments using Paytm," said Sudhanshu Gupta, Vice President of Paytm, in a statement.

The company has also launched a toll-free number 1800 1800 1234 that helps non-smartphone and non-internet users to pay or receive money using Paytm.(Read More)