DiGiSPICE: Industry Monitoring 03 July 2019
- Priyanka Kanodia
- Jul 8, 2019
- 7 min read
DiGiSPICE
Budget 2019: What the Fintech industry expects from the government
Publication- Data Quest
Edition- Online
Date- 03 July, 2019
Budget 2019 is all set to be announced on 5 July 2019 by Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs, who is also India’s first woman full-time finance minister. There are several expectations from the government as they have received a majority mandate for the second time, which will enable the government to initiate long-term transformational projects. The Fintech industry especially hopes for various measures from the Budget 2019 ranging from e-KYC to tax benefits to increase the ease of doing business. While what the government has planned for the country can only be revealed on 5 July 2019, let us look at some of the expectations leading Fintech players have from the government.
Drive financial inclusion across semi-urban and rural India – Dilip Modi, founder and chairman, DiGiSPICE
Dedicated ‘Special Digital Zones’ like SEZs, operational subsidies, reducing import duties on essential hardware and components, guidelines to safeguard Intellectual Property and development of institutions to aid in upskilling are areas that will continue to receive focused attention. Incentives can be expected to promote greater adoption of digital solutions in the SME and MSME sector. As India emerges as a service-sector driven economy for the long run, digital infrastructural investment, both for enterprises and for the nation, will become essential. The Union Budget 2019 will feature decisions that go a long way in optimizing the transparency and judicious utilization of resources. There is a great opportunity for us to use Aadhar as an authentication platform to drive financial inclusion across semi-urban and rural India.
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Competitors
Ericsson, Bhutan Telecom deploys disaster resilient emergency telecom network
Publication- ET Telecom
Edition- Online
Date- 03 July, 2019
Ericsson and Bhutan Telecom has deployed a disaster resilient, emergency telecom core network in Bhutan as a JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) grant project, Ericsson said in its recent report. This emergency telecom core network include Evolved Packet Core, Mobile Switching, OSS and BS has been built with the objective of providing users with an uninterrupted experience in day-to-day operations and during natural calamities.
“Bhutan being located within one of the most seismically active zones in the world, we are working with Ericsson to put in place a backup telecom core network that enables a seamless and uninterrupted connectivity experience for our users across the country,” said Jichen Thinley, GM, Corporate Planning & Strategy, Bhutan Telecom said Under the JICA grant project, Ericsson has implemented disaster recovery solutions from its Digital Services portfolio to build this network in Bhutan.
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Paytm refutes reports of charging extra for digital payments
Publication- Elets Online
Edition- Online
Date- 03 July, 2019
One of India’s leading e-commerce platform Paytm refuted the media reports, that it is going to charge users an extra amount for digital transactions on its platform.Paytm
“We would like to clarify that Paytm app/payment gateway owned by One97 Communications Limited does not charge or levy any convenience/transaction fee from our customers on using any payment method which includes cards, UPI, net-banking and wallet,” Paytm said in a statement.
The company said Paytm customers will continue using all the services available on the platform without any fee. A few days back an English daily had reported that Paytm will charge 1 percent on payments via credit cards, 0.9 percent for debit cards and up to Rs 12-15 through net banking and UPI-based methods from July 1.
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Ola, Paytm, OYO stocks attract investors in unlisted market, trade at eye-popping prices: Report
Publication- Money Control
Edition- Online
Date- 03 July, 2019
Currently, e-commerce businesses have made quite a name for themselves. Their titular value has attracted small and retail investors, creating a splash in the unlisted market, reports The Economic Times. A few household names in this space are ANI Technologies (Ola), Oravel Stays (OYO Rooms) and One97 Communications (Paytm). Unaware of challenges like value fluctuation and limited liquidity in the unlisted market space, a large number of investors throng to these counters.
And, others are drawn to it by the attractive valuations and herd mentality. Shares of Ola, OYO Rooms and Paytm are currently priced at Rs 27,500, Rs 75,000 and Rs 17,000 respectively in the unlisted space, as per Abhishek Securities, a firm dealing in unlisted shares. This is so even as the companies have been incurring losses. Yet, these companies continue to command sky-high valuations in the unlisted market.
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Industry News
Benefits of new blockchain tech for curbing pesky calls to be visible in a month: Trai chief
Publication- ET CIO
Edition- Online
Date- 03 July, 2019
Mobile operators are in final stages of operationalising Trai-prescribed new system for curbing pesky telemarketing calls, and consumers will begin to experience benefits of the new 'blockchain' framework in a month, Trai Chairman R S Sharma said Monday. Sharma said that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will review the progress made by operators in this regard in the first week of July.
"We will review in the first week of July, as to what was the progress of each entity, but the last I reviewed - I was informed that everybody is ready or in the final stages of operationalising it," Sharma told PTI.
Last year, the regulator had tightened the rules to curb pesky telemarketing calls and messages, asking telecom operators to leverage the blockchain technology to reduce such unwanted communications.
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Can Blockchain adoption be a silver bullet in fraud detection
Publication- The Financial Express
Edition- Online
Date- 03 July, 2019
India Inc’s growth continues to be dominated by digital transformation strategies. Today, new-age technologies can offer limitless possibilities to improve business processes, becoming pivotal across different departments and service lines. According to EY’s Global Forensic Data Analytics Survey 2018, the use of emerging technologies will continue to see an uptick in the coming year. The survey adds that 32% of anti-fraud professionals planned to adopt Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies in 2019.
Blockchain involves layering transaction information in the form of a hash block which is added to a distributed ledger that records all such transactions. The rising popularity of the technology is driven by its ease and efficiency; Blockchain offers features of scalability, decentralisation, transparency and security to multiple parties.
Corporate India has been fairly quick to capitalise on this disruptive trend and the acceptance rate continues to soar. For instance, the banking sector is an early adopter, enabling blockchain in smart contracts to prevent double-financing in money transfers. Fintech providers as well as digital payment companies are also considering its benefits. On the other hand, the real estate sector looks to minimise incidences of selling the same property to two different parties, and reducing benami properties by authentication of the parties.
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Samsung to ramp up IoT business in India after 5G roll-out
Publication- The New Indian Express
Edition- Online
Date- 03 July, 2019
Samsung will introduce more Internet of Things (IOT) or connected appliances that can be controlled through devices such as smartphones in India when the market is ready and has 5G connectivity, a top company executive said on Tuesday. In India the company has already introduced IOT devices in the form of smart washing machines as well as refrigerators.
"We are working for a better IOT experience for potential consumers globally. The impact and acceptance of IOT is more in Western countries. But the usage of IOT will definitely increase in countries like India with the introduction of 5G," Sunggy Koo, Vice President, Home IOT, Samsung told IANS.
IoT refers to a network of devices and sensors connected through the Internet. Samsung introduced SmartThings platform to help consumers to wirelessly connect with a whole range of smart devices. The company is expanding the lineup of these products with new SmartThings camera, SmartThings Wi-Fi plug and SmartThings light bulb.
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Workshop on IOT concludes Siddhartha Mahila Kalasala Publication- The Hans India
Edition- Online
Date- 03 July, 2019
The Computer and Electronics department of Siddhartha Mahila Kalasala organised three-day training and workshop on 'Internet of Things (IOT) using Raspberry' concluded on Tuesday. The three-day programme was commenced on June 30. The chief guest of the programme was C Sudhakar Reddy, Research and Development engineer at Hyper Techno Solutions. Addressing the students, Sudhakar Reddy explained the importance and uses of Internet of Things for the coming generations in this technology-growing world. He further explained about the hardware, software programming and applications that can be developed using IOT.
The students learned about Home automation, Robot, Waste Bin and other live projects at the three-day training and workshop. The students developed applications and coding at the workshop. The college director Dr T Vijaya Lakshmi said that these workshops would enable to bring out creative skills from the students. The college principal, M Nalini, computer science department head K Anita, electronics department head JP Kanti and other faculty members along with students were present.
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Blockchains.com Founder Buys Community Bank To Finance Crypto Dreams’
Publication- Krypto Money
Edition- Online
Date- 03 July, 2019
Jeffrey Berns, the eccentric founder of blockchain incubation and investment firm Blockchains.com, has purchased a small community bank in Las Vegas, Nevada that will aid him to secure financing as he manifests his decentralized dreams, according to The Nevada Independent.
Berns has previously expressed his desire to construct a Reno-sized, blockchain-focused smart city and e-sports arena in the Nevada desert. With this buyout, the 56-year-old attorney adds that the current financial system is a hindrance and he fears that the banking complex would cut off his supply of capital.
As per the publishing, Berns $28 million acquisition of the Kirkwood Bank of Nevada could be “a small but critical step in helping the nascent company achieve its wildly ambitious goals.” Berns hopes that along with financing his own projects, Kirkwood Bank of Nevada may become a leading bank for the blockchain industry.
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Smartphones, IoT, Connected Cars to Bolster eSIM Device Shipments to 2 Billion by 2025
Publication- News18
Edition- Online
Date- 03 July, 2019
eSIM technologies have been steadily seeing increasing adoption, and is reportedly set to increase manifold over the next few years. A market research report by Counterpoint Research's Emerging Technology Opportunities (ETO) metric states that adoption of eSIM technologies will increase over 5x by 2025. Of the increasing segments, smartphones and enterprise IoT devices such as embedded security, infrastructure, smart cities and smart farming will contribute the highest margins via both hardware and integrated eSIMs.
Alongside these, the rise of connected cars and steady growth of wearable technologies are also slated to contribute significantly to the growth of eSIM adoption. According to the report, while there were 364 million eSIM equipped devices shipped globally through 2018, the year 2025 will see over 2 billion eSIM equipped devices being shipped. Other categories that would also contribute to the rise of eSIM adoption include aerial drones, routers and mesh network adapters, and the tablet, laptop and convertible space.
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