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Payments banks need government and regulatory support for growth
Publication- The Financial Express
Edition- Online
Date- 24 July, 2019
The future is “uncertain” fo payments banks and the model aimed at deepening financial inclusion requires regulatory support in order to b effective, a report said Monday. The report from economists at SBI comes days after Aditya Birla Payments Bank, of the handpicked licensees, reportedly decided to shut down from October 2019. Vodafone m-Pesa had also shut shop earlier this month.
“The future is uncertain, but in time business will expand and evolve, with the help of regulatory and Government support,” they said in the note. The payments bank model “seems to have failed to achieve the stated objectives” with only four entities becoming operational out of the 11 players licensed in 2014 it said.
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Panel favours cryptocurrency ban in India
Publication- Livemint
Edition- Online
Date- 24 July, 2019
An inter-ministerial committee set up by the government on virtual currencies has proposed banning of private cryptocurrencies in India by enacting a law and imposing fines and penalties for carrying on activities related to such cryptocurrencies. The committee headed by finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has proposed a draft bill “Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019", which has been placed in the public domain. The committee has, however, taken a lenient view on the government launching an official digital currency, asking it to keep an open mind on the matter. “As virtual currencies and its underlying technology are still evolving, the group has proposed that the government may establish a standing committee to revisit the issues addressed in the report as and when required," it said.
The committee which also had secretary MEITY, chairman Sebi and RBI deputy governor as its members has suggested the use of distributed-ledger technology (DLT) in India, especially in financial services. “The DLT-based systems can be used by banks and other financial firms for processes such as loan-issuance tracking, collateral management, fraud detection and claims management in insurance and reconciliation systems in the securities market," the report said.
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BharatPe gets Bollywood actor Salman Khan link to add muscle to business
Publication- Zee Business
Edition- Online
Date- 24 July, 2019
Indian fintech company, BharatPe has appointed Salman Khan as the brand ambassador of the company according to ANI. BharatPe serves the offline retailers with services like payments, lending, and other financial facilities. The fintech company is on an aggressive growth spree and is launching a brand advertising campaign with Salman Khan in the coming week. In the company's upcoming advertising campaign, Salman Khan can be seen in a whole new avatar that brings out his passion and excitement to make people realise the importance of digital loans and payments for them and their businesses.
The company is on track to serve over 25 lakh merchants on its network by the end of 2019. BharatPe makes payment acceptance simple by offering merchants a single interface for all UPI apps such as PayTM, PhonePe, Google Pay, BHIM, Mobikwik, Freecharge, True Caller and 100 other UPI apps.
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Pine Labs opens in store payments platform to developers
Publication- Money Control
Edition- Online
Date- 24 July, 2019
Digital retail payments firm Pine Labs has announced the opening of an application program interface (API) of its android based in-store payment platform to developers who can now use the it to build value added solutions and applications for merchants. The APIs will be housed on the Pine Labs developer portal. There will be a dedicated application store to house developers' apps. Pine Labs will support the distribution of the apps to the merchant community. Pine Labs' in-store Android APIs offers options for developers who work in the areas of online and offline payments, customer feedback capture, travel and ticketing, ride sharing, and food and e-commerce delivery. The APIs will help developers build customizable, customer-focused solutions.
"Asia Pacific is the fastest growing developer region in the world. Analysts have predicted that the developer community in India will be the largest in the world in five years, surpassing that of the United States. We would like these developers to solve the interesting fintech challenges from this part of the world, using our APIs. We have, therefore, opened up our in-store and online payments APIs to the developer community," said Vicky Bindra, CEO, Pine Labs adding that the target is to have 5,000 developers by March.
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