Spice Money: Industry Monitoring 14 February 2019
- Priyanka Kanodia
- Feb 14, 2019
- 5 min read
Spice Money
Industry News
ToneTag appoints Anil Kumar as CTO
Publication- ET Tech
Edition- Online
Date- 14 February, 2019
Sound-based digital payments facilitator ToneTag has announced the appointment of Anil Kumar as its chief technology officer. In this role, Kumar will be responsible for optimizing the company's existing tech stack to a more robust and scalable version, the company said in a statement. He will also be responsible for making the product more diverse and improving the company's R&D center. Kumar joins the company after a 12 and half year stint at Oracle. He's also worked at companies like i2 Technologies and Grasim Industries.
Bengaluru-based ToneTag claims that it is working closely with several financial industry heavyweights including MasterCard, Finacle, ICICI Pockets, FreeCharge, Yes Pay, Bank of Baroda, and Airtel Money. ToneTag, which counts Mastercard, Amazon and Reliance Capital among its investors, has filed 14 global patents since its inception while shipping its flagship product RetailPOD to the Middle East, South-East Asia, North America and some parts of Africa.
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Smart City to get award for digital payment
Publication- The Times of India
Edition- Online
Date- 14 February, 2019
The Smart City Bhubaneswar has been chosen as the best digital payment innovator-2018 by the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA). The award is given for initiatives facilitating digital payment for services that the citizens avail. In August last year, 72 smart cities participated in Smart Cities Digital Payment Awards, 2018. There were three categories of award, including Best Digital Payment Adopter, Best Digital Payment Innovator and Fastest Smart City Focusing on Digital Payments. Officials said the aim of the award is to guide, motivate, recognize and reward smart cities for promoting digital payments and carrying out innovative payment initiatives on all available channels like BHlM, BharatQR, UPI, AadharPay, Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), NEFT and other e-wallets.
“A presentation was given before the officials of MoHUA. It was based on some questionnaires on best digital payment innovator and fastest growing smart city focusing on digital payments. But, the MoHUA evaluation committee found the city as a digital innovator,” said an official of Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL). The award will be given towards the end of this month. The ministry is yet to set a date for it. To help citizens to avail digital facility that paves the way for single payment option for different purposes, the BSCL has introduced Common Payment Card (CPC), named as Odyssey City Card (OCC). So far, 2,000 cards have been distributed among the citizens, which are currently being used for payment for tickets in city buses besides paying holding tax, water cess, power bills, parking fees and trade license fee for traders and businesses.
Please click on the link below:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/smart-city-to-get-award-for-digital-payment/articleshow/67982610.cms
Payments industry divided on RBI proposal to regulate sector
Publication- ET Tech
Edition- Online
Date- 14 February, 2019
The Reserve Bank of India’s intention to regulate payment gateway service providers has received a mixed response from industry players, with some welcoming the move and others cautioning that close regulatory scrutiny may cause operational challenges and stifle innovation. The central bank had last week announced it will release a white paper for discussion and consult companies before introducing regulations. Vishwas Patel, founder of CCAvenue Payment gateway, believes the sector doesn’t need more regulations as it already has all the safety networks in place to ensure customer money is protected.
“There is a fully functional nodal bank account system as mandated by the RBI, also all gateway entities are PCI-DSS certified ensuring security. What more will the regulator do with the fresh guidelines?” he told ET. Patel is also the chairman of industry body Payments Council of India (PCI), but clarified that his remarks were in his personal capacity. The industry body will take up the matter and organise response to the regulator only after the white paper is released, officials said.
Please click on the link below:
https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/payments-industry-divided-on-rbi-proposal-to-regulate-sector/67966157
Cashfree Launches Virtual UPI IDs
Publication- Business Wire India
Edition- Online
Date- 14 February, 2019
Bengaluru based payments technology company, Cashfree has launched Virtual UPI IDs, for automated reconciliations of UPI transfers for businesses. Cashfree is the first payment technology company to launch this innovative feature for UPI Payments. Virtual UPI IDs are like any other UPI VPA (Virtual payment address) that a user defines at the time of registration on a UPI app. Using Cashfree API, businesses can generate these UPI IDs in bulk against each customer or invoice. When the payment is received on these IDs, businesses know exactly who paid and for what.
Business’s own accounting software can be hooked to Cashfree’s system for automated updates on incoming payments. Thereby, removing the time taking the process of manual reconciliation and delay in payment acknowledgment. A classic example can be a share brokerage firm receiving deposits from clients for purchase of securities. In such a case, the share broker can generate a unique UPI ID for each client and share the ID with them. When payment is received, the service provider gets notified and payment is mapped against the client. Cashfree had earlier launched AutoCollect, its reconciliation solution, where a business could generate any number of virtual bank accounts and match inbound NEFT & IMPS transfers. With the addition of virtual UPI IDs, Cashfree is making UPI payments through Google Pay, Whatsapp, Phone Pe and other Apps easy to be reconciled for businesses.
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Dream11 tries up with PhonePe for UPI payment options
Publication- Insides Post
Edition- Online
Date- 14 February, 2019
As part of the association, PhonePe becomes first Indian gaming platform to offer direct UPI payment solution on the Dream11 platform. The users will also be able to avail a 30% cash back, subject to conditions, on 3 transactions of up to ₹75 on using PhonePe as a payment option on the Dream11 app. Commenting on the partnership, Ankit Gaur, Director, Online Business, PhonePe said, “We are very excited to partner with Dream 11, the country’s biggest sports game. Over the last few years, Dream11 has seen phenomenal growth with a constantly growing user base.
The next few months will see some of the biggest cricket tournaments including the much-awaited World Cup 2019 and the Indian Premier League (IPL) among others. There will be huge interest in fantasy cricket on Dream11 during this period and with this association, we are hoping to create a more seamless and hassle-free experience for the users allowing them to pay using their preferred payment solution, PhonePe. ”We are happy to partner with PhonePe as it is a rapidly growing payment platform with over 150 million users.
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Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited gets Smart Cities Digital Payment Award
Publication- Orissa Dairy
Edition- Online
Date- 14 February, 2019
Adding yet another feather to its cap, Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) has won the Best Digital Payment Innovator Award, conceptualized by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). It was declared on February 11, 2019. This was part of the initiative taken up by MoUHA during August last year under Smart Cities Digital Payment Awards (SCDPA) 2018. There were three categories under SCDPA-2018.
As a part of its Smart City Proposal, BSCL has started implementing Common Payment Card System (CPCS) under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode through ICICI Bank. The proposed system focuses on facilitating payment transactions for citizen services across the city through Odyssey Card. These services primarily include payments pertaining to buses and other transit modes, parking, municipal services (property taxes, trade license fee and other charges), utilities (electricity, water, etc.) and also includes recreational and retail payments.
Please click on the link below:
http://orissadiary.com/bhubaneswar-smart-city-limited-gets-smart-cities-digital-payment-award/
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