Spice Money: Industry Monitoring 22 January 2019
- Priyanka Kanodia
- Jan 22, 2019
- 6 min read
Spice Money
Industry News
Ebix Inc. to take over two Indian Travel and Tour companies
Publication- Travel Biz Monitor
Edition- Online
Date- 22 January, 2019
Ebix Inc. has announced that one of its Indian subsidiaries has signed agreements to acquire the assets of Delhi based Pearl International Tour & Travels and Mumbai based Lawson Travels & Tours. The two companies cumulatively conduct a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of approximately USD 140 million. Both these companies will be tightly integrated into EbixCash’s Via travel Division. The acquisition of the assets of the two companies will increase EbixCash’s travel expanse across its two travels brands Via & Mercury, to a total GMV of USD 1.16 Billion. The acquisition will not only increase EbixCash’s travel foothold by 10,000 agents, but also add 300 corporate clients and key B2C portals like www.sastiticket.com to the EbixCash travel spectrum of products and services.
The two acquisitions will cumulatively add approximately 450+ employees, 11 branches and 10,000 agents, leading to EbixCash’s travel portfolio having 2,200+ employees, 212,450+ agent network, 25 branches and 9800+ corporate clients. Commenting on the acquisition of the two companies from India, Robin Raina, Chairman, President & CEO, Ebix said that they had set up a very simple goal for themselves in 2019 as far as the travel industry goes.
“We want to be India’s most profitable travel company besides being a clear No. 2 in terms of top line by the end of 2019. With GMV of approximately INR 8,000 crores (USD 1.16 Billion) including Pearl and Lawson at present, we are clearly getting very close to that goal. We are in the unique position of having a rich portfolio of other services like travel insurance, health insurance, foreign exchange, outward remittances, visa services etc. that perfectly complement our travel portfolio leading to extensive cross selling opportunities for us and a one-stop service experience for our B2B and B2C travel clients across the globe,” said Raina. Please click on the link below:
RBI mulls opening up payment system operators to private parties, places discussion paper online
Publication- The Economic Times
Edition- Online
Date- 22 January, 2019
The Reserve Bank of India has outlined norms for private parties to apply for development of retail payment systems in the country like IMPS, UPI and others. In a note released by the central bank, it said that there is a need for a multi-pronged action to strengthen the retail digital payment systems. In a major move, the RBI said that it could allow multiple entities to set up payment systems here and encourage competition. Further it also stated the entry norms and processes for becoming one among the multiple payment systems in the country could be simplified. To encourage a consultative approach the regulator has placed on the public domain its plans on the payment systems and has invited comments by February 20 of this year.
Highlighting the reasons behind this move, the RBI said that there is significant concentration risk on the platforms since “(there are) only few operators and a wide array of payment systems”. To take the example of National Payments Corp of India handles cheque payments, smartphone based UPI, instant bank transfer like IMPS and even USSD for feature phone users. This caused the platform to handle in October last year 48% of all the retail payments in the country amounting to 15% in terms of the amount flowing. While concentration through one platform has its advantages like less cost of overseeing, easier to govern it also opens up risk of inefficiencies in a monopolistic environment, risk of failure in case of catastrophe or lack of innovation and upgradation. Therefore the RBI has suggested a competitive open environment where players can come in with their own products and innovate further. However, this would need interoperability between all the platforms, it said.
Please click on the link below:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/rbi-mulls-opening-up-payment-system-operators-to-private-parties-places-discussion-paper-online/articleshow/67629184.cms
Xelpmoc Design's IPO will allow subscribers to pay via UPI for first time
Publication- Business Standard
Edition- Online
Date- 22 January, 2019
The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi’s) latest reform for the primary market will undergo its first test later this week. The first initial public offering (IPO) of the calendar year by Xelpmoc Design and Tech, a small-sized tech company, will allow retail investors to pay through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
UPI is a mobile-based application that enables instant payment from one bank account to another. If successful, it will pave the way for pruning the time period between closing an IPO and listing of the security to just three.
Please click on the link below:
https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/xelpmoc-design-s-ipo-will-allow-subscribers-to-pay-via-upi-for-first-time-119012200015_1.html
UPI boost for small merchants: Treating them as ‘peers’ will cut out transaction costs
Publication- The Financial Express
Edition- Online
Date- 22 January, 2019
If digital transactions are to take a quantum leap, it is necessary to ensure that the MSME sector participates in the transition from cash to digital channels. Currently, small merchants and vendors are loathe to transact either via digital channels or cards. For one, they want to stay out of the taxman’s net, which is not surprising. Secondly, the merchant discount rate (MDR) is an additional cost, which they understandably do not want to pay. With customers also wanting to stay off the taxman’s radar, it is not surprising cash remains popular.
If the government wants to encourage digital transactions, it needs to push the envelope. And the best way to do this is to incentivise small merchants. For one, it should do away with the MDR—at least for the very small merchants—and classify them as peers for QR-based Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions. Such a proposal is understood to be under consideration, and the government would do well to implement this quickly. The MDR for UPI transactions stands at 0.25% for transactions under Rs 1,000 and 0.65% for all other transactions. With the MDR out of the way, merchants might be more amenable to digital transactions. While UPI transactions have grown manifold since the launch of the payment mode in 2016, with volumes of 620 million in December, merchant transactions account for just 15-20% of these.
Please click on the link below:
How to Accept Credit Card Payments — The Ultimate Guide
Publication- Money Life
Edition- Online
Date- 22 January, 2019
If you are a growing business or want to widen your reach by tapping into the online market then you must be able to accept credit card payments. By accepting credit card payments your business can witness up to a 40% boost in sales. So, put the right software and hardware in place so as to ensure that your client's data security is maintained while making online credit card payments. You can also choose a credit card of your own, such as the Bajaj Finserv RBL Bank SuperCard. This card offers your business the ability to overcome short monetary requirements, such as clearing supplier dues or buying needed inventory, with instant financing.
You can save money with each purchase and convert purchases above Rs.3000 into easy EMIs. This apart, you can get the power and benefits of ‘4 cards in 1’ with this card and use it as an EMI card, a loan card, a cash card and a credit card, as per your needs. You can avail an emergency interest-free credit card loan on your existing credit limit and withdraw interest-free cash from ATMs. Apart from this, you can earn rewards, cashbacks, and discounts for a range of purchases and transactions.
Please click on the link below:
BHIM app update brings one-time mandate feature to schedule payments; here’s how to use it
Publication- BGR
Edition- Online
Date- 22 January, 2019
In 2018, the value of UPI transactions grew over 750 percent, whereas volume grew by 400 percent. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has also been working on an updated BHIM app, and one of the new features have started showing up. In August 2018, NPCI announced UPI 2.0 which brings features such as overdraft account, one-time mandate, increased transaction limits and more. Now, the recent update to BHIM app has added one-time mandate feature. The new feature lets you schedule payments for a later date. Say you pay a house rent of Rs 5,000 on 15th of every month, you can schedule the payment anywhere before that date. The money will still be in your account till the said date, but blocked (meaning you won’t be able to use it).
The good part of this is that you keep earning the interest that your bank offers. The feature can also come handy when making online purchases. Say you are buying a product from an e-commerce site, that particular amount will be blocked from the bank account. Once the product is delivered, the payment will be released from the bank and credited to a merchant account. This will give more assurances to the customers to shop online without any worries. As of now, the app only allows for peer-to-peer UPI mandate option. Let’s go ahead take a look at how it works.
Please click on the link below:
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