Spice Money
Industry News
Grey areas stymie financial inclusion, raise viability concerns for BCs
Publication- The Indian Express
Edition- Online
Date- 06 May, 2019
Banking agents and business correspondents (BCs) operating in the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme and other banking services are finding the going tough due to certain grey areas in the implementation of some of the services. Taking up the issue with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) and NITI Aayog, BCs have said the DBT of the government is not reaching all the citizens and many banks have kept away from Aadhar enabled payment system (AEPS). “All the banks receiving DBT from the government in customer accounts are not participating in the AEPS settlement. This restricts access of DBT money to the citizen,” said a banking source.
On the other hand, AEPS device subsidy being offered by NABARD is not being availed by the banks, thereby leaving the banks to purchase the AEPS devices without subsidy. “This makes government announcements irrelevant and many BC agents can’t afford the device cost,” said Anand Kumar Bajaj, founder of PayNearby, a fintech company in the banking sector.
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RBI imposes fines on PPI issuers; INS VELA submarine to be launched - Current Affairs
Publication- Jagran Josh
Edition- Online
Date- 05 May, 2019
The Reserve Bank of India on May 3, 2019 announced that it has imposed penalties on five prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers, including Vodafone m-pesa and PhonePe, for violation of regulatory norms. The central bank said in a statement that in exercise of the powers vested to it under Section 30 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, the Reserve Bank of India has imposed monetary penalty on five PPI Issuers for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines.
Key Highlights
A penalty of Rs 3.05 crore has been imposed on Vodafone m-pesa and Rs 1 crore each on Mobile Payments, PhonePe, Private and GI Technology. A penalty of Rs 5 lakh has also been imposed on Y-Cash Software Solutions. Penalties have also been imposed on Western Union Financial Services Inc and MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc, both US firms, for non-compliance of the guidelines.
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UK begins accepting Apple Pay, Google Pay
Publication- The New Indian Express
Edition- Online
Date- 06 May, 2019
The UK government has started accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay for some of its online consumer services. The government launched its online payments platform GOV. UK Pay for services with credit and debit cards in 2016 and, so far, more than 2.9 million transactions have been made. The Minister for Implementation Oliver Dowden announced on Sunday that the government will now allow payments to be made with mobile phones through Apple Pay and Google Pay. "We're focused on making access to government services as easy as possible. And introducing mobile payment to GOV.UK Pay will also make transactions more secure," Dowden said in a statement.
People can pay via Apple Pay and Google Pay for four services initially.
The services are the Global Entry Service which enables UK citizens to get expedited entry to the US and online basic DBS checks carried out before people are allowed to work in certain sectors. The other two services are the Registered Traveller Service which makes it easier for frequent visitors from non-EU countries to enter the UK using modern E-Gates at the border and the Electronic Visa Waiver Service which allows people from four countries in the Middle East to travel more easily to the UK. Following the initial trial, the government plans to roll mobile payments across central government services. "Allowing people to pay for government services through Apple Pay and Google Pay means they won't have to enter their credit or debit card information when making payments," said Till Wirth, Lead product manager for GOV.UK Pay. Apple Pay has 390 million paid subscriptions globally and is on track to reach 10 billion transactions.
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Groww introduces payments through UPI
Publication- News Barons
Edition- Online
Date- 06 May, 2019
Investing platform Groww continues to change the way India invests and has now introduced payments through UPI with multiple options to pay like Google Pay, BHIM, Phone Pe, PayZapp and Whatsapp. This will help make investing in mutual funds easier, more transparent and faster.
Groww currently offers direct mutual fund investment plans and will soon roll out stocks. Groww focuses on millennial investors and has a fast-growing user base of over 2 million users with close to 500,000 new users adding every month, 75% of which are first time investors. Groww has no subscription charges, transaction charges or any other hidden charges and is 100% paperless. The company has seen a 50% month-on-month growth in number of transactions since it went Direct last April. Groww offers all mutual funds from 34 leading fund houses.
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