DiGiSPICE
Spice Money achieves Gross Transactional Value of INR 2400 crore in April exclusively
Publication- BW CIO World
Edition- Online
Date- 15 May, 2019
Spice Money, a business unit of Spice Digital and one of India’s largest tech-enabled Hyper Local Payments Network, recently achieved a feat of carrying out 12 million transactions within the month of April. The transactions generated a massive Gross Transactional Value of INR 2400 crore, firmly establishing Spice Money as a preferred platform to carry out financial transactions for the unserved and underserved population in the country. Spice Money has introduced new product offerings and enriched existing ones to further its goal of extending digitized transactional benefits to a large section of people who have little access to conventional financial facilities.
Commenting on the achievement, Dilip Modi, Chairman, Spice Money, said, “The April figures underline the strong growth trajectory Spice Money has achieved over a considerable period of time. We have strived to diversify our services framework significantly, and have already acquired licenses such as Prepaid Instruments License and Bharat Bill Payment System license. We have also partnered with leading service providers across verticals, such as Yatra for travel-related transactions, to offer seamless financial experience. We hope to expand our footprint even deeper in India and serve as the bridge between the served and the un-served, providing financial services to every individual with limited accessibility.”
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Industry News
Citigroup looks to vastly expand India reach with Paytm tie-up
Publication- Livemint
Edition- Online
Date- 15 May, 2019
India's top digital payments firm Paytm on Tuesday launched a credit card with Citigroup, widening its financial product base while giving its banking partner an opportunity to vastly expand its credit card customer base in the country. The new card should help Paytm stay a step ahead of rivals in the fiercely competitive digital payments market in India where companies from Alphabet Inc-owned Google to Walmart-owned PhonePe, are all scrambling to grab a piece of the digital payments pie that is projected to grow to $500 billion by 2020, according to the Boston Consulting Group.
For Citi, it is a big opportunity to extend its retail presence in India. Even if only 1% of Paytm's over 300 million customers use the new credit card, that's a huge number, Stephen Bird, Chief Executive, Global Consumer Banking at Citi told reporters at a news conference. Its parent One97 Communications counts Japan's SoftBank Group, Alibaba and Berkshire Hathaway among its investors.
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Building a codified culture to deliver new-age employee experience
Publication- People Matters
Edition- Online
Date- 15 May, 2019
As millennials climb the ladder and Gen Z professionals walk through the door, the modern-day workplace has taken on a new definition. With India getting set up to be one of the youngest workforces in the world by 2027, the expectations from a job, career, and a work environment are rapidly changing. The employee today is looking for exciting work opportunities, and a workplace that offers them work-life balance, a fun and casual culture, and an open-door policy – an environment where they can bring their authentic selves to work and voice their opinions freely.
How businesses are enhancing culture and employee experience?
Serving as a testament to the insights from the Career Pathways survey is our 2019 Top Companies list for India where informal work culture was seen as a major driving force behind happy employees. Mobile Internet company, One97 Communications (Paytm) at #4 has done away with the concept of work appointments. Employees are free to have impromptu meetings and occupy available rooms without blocking calendars. Designations such as assistant general manager, deputy general manager, and the general manager could soon be a thing of the past at India’s second-largest private bank ICICI (#20) which seeks to cut hierarchy and boost accountability.
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CSC to use AI, data analytics to improve services in rural areas
Publication- Livemint
Edition- Online
Date- 15 May, 2019
CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd (CSC PVP) has roped in NEC Technologies India (NECTI), a subsidiary of NEC Corporation., in a bid to leverage the benefits of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics in improving services across finance, education and healthcare sectors in rural areas. The two bodies have also created a joint-working group within CSC SPV to jointly develop and deliver new digital services to approximately 900 million citizens living in rural areas of India.
Incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), CSC PVP’s primary objective is to monitor the implementation of Common Services Centers Scheme (CSCs) and provide a centralized collaborative framework for delivery of services to citizens. According to a press statement, 470,000 transactions occur at CSCs across India every day.
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Are Indian smart cities really smart?
Publication- The Statesman
Edition- Online
Date- 15 May, 2019
Imagine an India with citizen friendly self-sustainable urban settlements where traffic is managed through AI driven cameras, criminal hotpots are under constant smart CCTV surveillance, public transport is managed by GPS, lighting is smart and power efficient, waste is collected and segregated on time and housing is affordable. All of this and more would be monitored and controlled through integrated central command center, where the authorities, powered by quality and real-time metrics would be able to help citizens real-time. More than 2 lakh crore is proposed for 99 chosen cities to implement these initiatives to make them smart cities.
But in all this, there was no universally accepted definition of smart city was provided. Smart cities are described as those cities which provide core infrastructure, and give decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of “smart” solutions. We have just successfully repackaged citizens’ essential needs into a new project called “smart cities”
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SK Telecom and Microsoft sign MoU to jointly promote IoT
Publication- Geospatial World
Edition- Online
Date- 15 May, 2019
SK Telecom and Microsoft Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on May 7 for comprehensive cooperation in leading-edge ICT, including 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud. Under the MOU, SK Telecom and Microsoft will combine their technological capabilities in areas such as 5G, AI and cloud to jointly promote Internet of Things (IoT) business including smart factory; AI technologies and services; media and entertainment services; and new ways of working for ICT companies under the SK Group umbrella.
To promote smart factory IoT business operations, the two companies established a business strategic partnership in February 2019 to launch Microsoft Azure with Metatron, SK Telecom’s self-developed big data solution. SK Telecom and Microsoft will work together to further upgrade the service and implement joint marketing activities.
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Verizon NB-IoT service price, modules and coverage revealed
Publication- Telecom Lead
Edition- Online
Date- 15 May, 2019
Verizon will be spending $17-18 billion towards its network Capex focusing on LTE, 5G and fiber networks in 2019. Verizon’s Capex during the first quarter of 2019 touched $4.3 billion — in line with the company’s strategy for dedicating funds for network expansion. The Capex of AT&T reached $5.2 billion in Q1. Verizon Wireless added 261,000 other connected devices, primarily wearable, during the first quarter of 2019.
Verizon’s initial NB-IoT Standard Price Plan offers 50 KB of data with a $1 monthly access fee per device. IoT customers can share the data allowance with other NB-IoT devices on the same price plan and on the same account. While CAT-M1 targets a range of applications for business customers such as wearables, fleet and asset management, NB-IoT focuses on applications needing data rates below 100 kbps.
GSMA in February said mobile IoT or Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) networks are now globally available in licensed spectrum in 49 markets following 93 launches by 50 different mobile operators across both LTE-M and NB-IoT.
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Klaytn, The Blockchain Platform From Kakao Is Set To Launch In June
Publication- Krypto Money
Edition- Online
Date- 15 May, 2019
The blockchain arm of South Korean internet giant Kakao Corp, Ground X announces the launch of its own blockchain platform dubbed Klaytn on June 27, 2019, as per a report published on Cointelegraph on May 14. As per the announcement, Klaytn mainnet will purportedly support blockchain adoption in the country. With a presence in messaging, gaming, content services, financial services, and mobility services, Kakao owns a 96% market share in South Korea.
Last March, Kakao announced its plans for the blockchain platform and released a testnet version of Klaytn in October. Focussed on decentralized apps (DApps), developers have been testing the blockchain with over ten domestic and international partners. Just recently, Kakao repeated its initial coin offering (ICO) in order to raise an additional $90 million for Klaytn. Purportedly, the firm plans to release an integrated crypto wallet within its messaging app, KakaoTalk, once Klaytn mainnet gets released.
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Funds Samsung Galaxy Telephones Champion ‘Blockchain Pockets’ in Predominant Crypto Adoption Enhance
Publication- National Times
Edition- Online
Date- 15 May, 2019
Funds Samsung Galaxy Items Champion ‘Blockchain Pockets’ in Predominant Crypto Adoption BoostSamsung’s crypto wallet, launched in the flagship S10 (pictured), will reach extra damage-users on the S10’s less-costly cousins. | Offer: ShutterstockBy CCN: In February, Samsung Electronics officially provided the integration of a crypto wallet into its flagship Galaxy S10 model in the produce of “Samsung Blockchain Pockets,” enabling users to retailer Ethereum-primarily based fully ERC20 tokens.Samsung Blockchain Keystore App (Offer: Hankyoreh/CoindeskKorea)Per local publications, Samsung is planning to mix its crypto asset wallet into assorted Galaxy items along side funds items which are extra extensively utilized by users worldwide.
Astronomical Enhance in Crypto AdoptionChae Won-cheol, the senior managing director of the Product Approach Team at the Wi-fi Business Division of Samsung Electronics, stated that in the foreseeable future, the firm will amplify the form of Galaxy items that enhance crypto and amplify its products and services to the U.S. and Canada.The govt.stated:We’ll decrease obstacles to contemporary experiences by gradually increasing the form of Galaxy items that enhance blockchain functions.
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Squeezer.io Design Sights on Revolutionizing Blockchain Adoption for Industry Infrastructures Scalable Dapp Pattern Platform
Publication- National Times
Edition- Online
Date- 15 May, 2019
Blockchain technology is reinventing industries in a ability only a pair of would occupy imagined. The disintermediation of have faith and decentralized, perceive-to-perceive alternate of values is striking off the vulnerable bottlenecks and frictions, developing one amongst the fastest growing industries in the labour market. With the growing appetite for blockchain technology and decentralized capabilities, blockchain developers occupy change into highly wanted, commanding a imply revenue that is 50% higher than the customary tool educated.
Companies and organizations are now seeking to help blockchain abilities at any and all charges.Hiring developers for the come of blockchain-basically based application requires bigger than factual coding abilities. Builders can occupy to be adept at developing server-aspect interfaces for blockchain node cases. They must always also be versatile all the plot by plot of a extensive differ of true languages love Solidity, C++, and rust.
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