Spice Money: Industry Monitoring 17 January 2019
- Priyanka Kanodia
- Jan 18, 2019
- 4 min read
Spice Money
Industry News
Kotak Mahindra Bank case to come up for hearing amid clamour for change in ownership rules
Publication- The Economic Times
Edition- Online
Date- 17 January, 2019
Kotak Mahindra Bank NSE -0.05 % 's case against an RBI decision on promoter stake dilution is likely to come up for hearing before the Bombay High Court on Thursday amid a growing clamour for a review of the central bank's ownership guidelines for home-grown private sector lenders. There is also a growing clamour, among those associated with the ruling dispensation, for ensuring that the certain amount of indigenous control is maintained in the banking sector even while welcoming the foreign capital and any stake dilution should be left to market evolution rather than forcing it.
As the debate continues on the RBI rules, which require private lenders to reduce their promoter holding eventually to 15 per cent over a period of time, one of the newest banks in the country, Bandhan Bank, recently announced a merger with HDFC Group's Gruh Finance Ltd in a share-swap deal. Some experts have said that one of the key reasons for Bandhan Bank opting for this deal was to meet the RBI rules, especially after it had to face some curbs by the central bank last year for failing to reduce the promoter stake to 40 per cent within three years of operation. The rules require a bank to cut the promoter stake to 40 per cent within 3 years, 20 per cent within 10 years and then to 15 per cent within 15 years. In case of Kotak Mahindra Bank, it was asked to cut the promoter stake to 20 per cent by December 31, 2018, from 30 per cent earlier, and eventually to 15 per cent by March 2020.
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Vakrangee Limited Launches 3,300+ NextGen Vakrangee Kendras Across India
Publication- Business Standard
Edition- Online
Date- 17 January, 2019
Vakrangee Limited has launched 3,300+ NextGen Vakrangee Kendras across Pan India today, 14th January, 2019. After successful launch in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) & National Capital Region (NCR), the company has now rolled out these outlets on Pan India basis. These NextGen Vakrangee Kendras offer a comprehensive range of products and services across banking, insurance, ATM, assisted e-commerce, e-governance, financial services and logistics.
These NextGen outlets are spread across 20 states, 340+ districts and 2,000+ postal codes of the country, out of which more than 70% outlets are from Tier 5 and Tier 6 cities. Overall in the Pilot phase, the company plans to have 4,000+ NextGen Vakrangee Kendra stores.
Eko India Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. an authorized Prepaid Instrument License holder from RBI has been our service partner for the Domestic Money Transfer service. This Domestic Money Transfer service can be availed across Vakrangee's nation-wide franchisee network of NextGen Vakrangee Kendras.
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PayU India hiving off lending business as a separate entity
Publication- The Economic Times
Edition- Online
Date- 17 January, 2019
Digital payments company PayU India is hiving off its lending business as a separate entity, according to two people aware of the plan. The new entity will house Lazy-Pay, the ‘buy now pay later’ product that was run by PayU India managing director Jitendra Gupta. Gupta will take over as the new chief executive officer of the lending company, which will be named PayU Finance India and will operate out of Mumbai, ET has learnt. About 100 employees from PayU Payments India will join the new company.
PayU Payments India offers payment gateway services to more than 50% of the online merchants in the country. PayU Payments has sent revised agreement documents to merchants offering LazyPay as a payment mode. LazyPay allows consumers to undertake multiple purchases online and make all payments at one go at a later assigned date. ET has seen a copy of the letter. “We at PayU have conducted internal restructuring of transferring credit business to a separate subsidiary. This is pursuant to our approval of the NBFC licence, an important milestone in our credit journey,” Gupta said, confirming the move. To operate the lending business, the company had acquired nonbanking finance company Sidvik Leasing, which has been renamed PayU Finance India.
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Paytm partners with Zomato to enable food delivery through the app
Publication- ET Tech
Edition- Online
Date- 17 January, 2019
Digital payments major Paytm has partnered with online restaurant discovery and food delivery platform Zomato to enable food delivery through the application. The feature being currently live in Delhi NCR currently, is expected to go live across the country soon, said the company. Also currently it is available on the Android version of the application, but will go live on iOS as well. Paytm, with its strong user base in tier two and three locations intends to bring this offering to those customers who might not be having the Zomato application and thereby push uptake among a larger user base.
Further the Alibaba and Softbank backed financial services entity will use this feature to push up adoption of the payment instrument both offline as well as online. Paytm QR is already gaining traction for offline payments across restaurants, said the company. “Our association with Zomato is a valuable addition to our platform in bringing the convenience of ordering food online through our app. It is also an important step towards enhancing the overall offerings to our customers. We will continue to invest our efforts in this direction,” said Renu Satti, senior vice president Paytm.
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https://techcircle.vccircle.com/2019/01/15/this-bank-has-settled-forex-deals-worth-250-bn-on-blockchain-over-the-past-year
Reliance, Chevron and Total join London-based oil blockchain platform Vakt
Publication- ET Energy World
Edition- Online
Date- 17 January, 2019
Oil majors Chevron and Total, along with major Indian refiner Reliance Industries, have joined the blockchain-based platform Vakt, London-based Vakt said on Tuesday. Vakt, already in use by other major trading firms since the end of last year, is the first of many blockchain pilot schemes for commodities trading to go live. The firm was created in 2017 by a consortium that includes oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell, Norway's Equinor, global energy trading firms Mercuria Energy Group and Koch Supply and Trading, as well as Gunvor Group.
Its original shareholders began using the system in November, starting for North Sea crude oil trading. Banks ABN Amro, ING and Societe Generale are other shareholders. Blockchain, the platform behind cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is viewed by many as a solution to trade and settlement inefficiencies, as well as a way to improve transparency and reduce the risk of fraud.Vakt digitises and centralises what was previously a mountain of paperwork shared between all the parties involved in each deal.
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