Spice Money: Industry Monitoring 11 January 2019
- Priyanka Kanodia
- Jan 11, 2019
- 5 min read
Spice Money
Bandhan Bank’s Q3 profit rises 11.3%, provisions treble
Publication- The Economic Times
Edition- Online
Date- 11 January, 2019
Bandhan Bank on Thursday said a ₹385 crore loan made to a borrower from the “infrastructure development and finance sector” had turned sour in the December quarter (Q3). Without naming Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS), the bank said it fully provided for the loan in the same quarter. Bandhan Bank managing director and chief executive officer, Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, said the loan was a secured asset with AAA rating. This loan was the only exposure it had in the infrastructure space and there was no loan above ₹25 crore on its books, other than a few loans to micro finance institutions (MFIs). “This loan was taken in two tranches in 2016 and then again about a year back,” Ghosh said.
He added that the bank is keen on penetrating the affordable housing segment.
“Another segment we decided to penetrate is the affordable housing segment as there is a lot of demand for houses but the segment is still under-penetrated.” The bank reported net profit of ₹331.20 crore in the three months to 31 December 2018, up 10.3% from the same period last year. The bank’s provisions in Q3 trebled on a year-on-year basis to ₹378 crore and its gross non-performing assets (NPA) as a percentage of its total advances stood at 2.41%.
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Industry News
Reliance Jio takes first big step into fintech,enters PoS business
Publication- ET Tech
Edition- Online
Date- 11 January, 2019
Fintech seems to be the next segment that Mukesh Ambani's Reliance is aiming to disrupt. Payments bank was just the start. After acquiring over 200 million subscriber base, Reliance Jio is now eyeing the merchant community by entering the point-of-sale (PoS) segment. If an industry source is to be believed then the company has already launched its PoS services is six cities — Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata — on a pilot basis. Merchants and retail provision stores will have to 'deposit' Rs 3,000 to get Reliance's PoS device; and for all debit and credit card transactions up to Rs 2,000 in value, the merchant discount rate (MDR) would be zero.
MDR is the cost paid by a merchant to a bank every time a debit/credit card is swiped for payments in their stores. Currently, the PoS accepts Reliance's own wallet Jio Money and National Payments Corporation of India's BHIM and will add other wallets soon. The device comes with QR Code scanner feature. Merchants will also be able to access loan against card receivables.
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UPI 2.0 can turn into a mega citizen-scale pay system: NPCI's Dilip Asbe
Publication- ET Tech
Edition- Online
Date- 11 January, 2019
India enters 2019 on the cusp of a digital revolution, mainly due to major influencers. First, we have a regulator defining the landscape by innovation-led policies, fuelling new-age business models and maintaining security and risk management standards to highest levels.
Second, we have a government that is focused on moving towards a digital or less-cash economy. Third, we have banks embracing technology to accelerate digital payments, proliferation of financial inclusion and superior customer services. And last, we have fintech innovators who are re-imagining solutions for our day-to-day problems and providing superior consumer experience for digital payments.
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the most advanced payment system in the world, was launched in 2016, designed on the principles of interoperability, consumer choice and forging partnerships between banks and fintechs, leveraging each other’s strengths.
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TCS revenue grows fastest in 14 Quarters
Publication- The Times of India
Edition- Online
Date- 11 January, 2019
Tata Consultancy Services ( ) reported a 12.1% revenue growth rate in the third quarter on a constant currency basis, a number that has doubled in the span of a year, helped by growth in all sectors, but specifically the banking, financial services & insurance (BFSI) segment in North America. The growth was the highest in 14 quarters. During the same period last year, the Rajesh Gopinathan-led company reported a constant currency growth of 6.2% and this number has been on an upward trajectory ever since, helping India’s biggest IT services company to widen the gap with rivals like Infosys and Wipro.
Constant currency discounts the effect of currency volatility over which companies have no control. Even sequentially, the latest quarter — a traditionally weak one due to the holiday season — was better from the company perspective, registering 1.8% growth compared to 1.3% a year earlier. Total revenue in the quarter was $5.2 billion.
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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/blockchain-tech-to-help-the-unbanked-get-credit-scores/articleshow/67461532.cms
Digital Pay: UPI payments growing well, but still quite small
Publication- The Financial Express
Edition- Online
Date- 11 January, 2019
Given how UPI payments rose from a mere Rs 706 crore in December 2016, to Rs 13,144 crore in December 2017 and to Rs 102,600 crore in December 2018—620 million transactions were done last month—it is clear UPI is gaining a lot of traction. Indeed, by 2020, 80% of all non-cash transactions are expected to be routed by UPI. However, the fact is the volume of cash transactions is high and it remains the preferred currency. But, given smartphones are selling in big numbers and tipped to hit 700 million by 2020, there is a big opportunity—not to mention, a big need—to push digital transactions.
In order to do that, stakeholders—especially those intermediaries working hard to encourage digital payments—need to be incentivized. The Nandan Nilekani committee, set up to see what needs to be done, may want to assess whether the subsidies and discounts are being channeled quickly to the beneficiaries. For example, banks have been accused of delaying reimbursements of merchant discount rates (MDR) to merchant aggregators and acquirers. While the absolute values may be not be large since these are small-value digital transactions—the estimated MDR in 2016-17 was Rs 3,000 crore—the delay in reimbursements nonetheless needs to be addressed.
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Opera Launches Ethereum Blockchain Based Mobile Browser With Inbuilt Ethereum Wallet
Publication- Krypto Money
Edition- Online
Date- 11 January, 2019
Opera announces the rollout of its new browser for Android at a blockchain event in London. The latest upgrade involves a very special feature for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, i.e. an inbuilt Ethereum wallet. Being a famous browser, Opera is used by many and could aid in cryptocurrency adoption. In July, the app’s beta version was introduced, which created a flurry of excitement in the cryptocurrency community as it enabled mobile users to send, receive and hold crypto in the browser wallet. The app was rolled out in partnership with the Joseph Lubin-backed startup called Infura.
The new Opera browser will eliminate the need of installing a separate Android wallet on your smartphone. Moreover, the browser will run on Ethereum Blockchain and give the user the possibility to access a slew of inbuilt dApps.The company brands their new Android-based product as a ‘Blockchain browser’. Opera boasts that the use of nascent technology will aid them to trump over their competitors. Opera’s Krystian Kolondra further adds that it is not just about introducing a newfangled feature and that the browser will eventually boost the adoption of cryptocurrencies. Ethereum cofounder Lubin, who currently leads ConsenSys, also believes that the new app could have disruptive potential and will aid in making decentralized applications available for the general public.
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