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Digital payment firms wait for new finance secretary to discuss MDR
Publication- The Economic Times
Edition- Online
Date- 26 July, 2019
Digital payments companies are in a fix regarding the issue of zero merchant discount rate (MDR), proposed in the budget earlier this month. With finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on his way out, industry sources said discussions with the govt may need to be restarted. Garg was named power secretary in an order late on Wednesday. “There was a meeting that was supposed to happen with the economic affairs secretary in the first week of August; now that there will be a new person at the top we will have to reach out to him afresh and explain the position of the industry on the MDR issue again,” a top executive of the payments industry said on the condition of anonymity.
MDR is the rate merchants pay to banks and service providers for the digital payments facilities that they enjoy. The Indian Banks’ Association had sent a letter on the matter as well, bankers pointed out. IBA chief executive VG Kannan could not be reached for comment. An email sent to his official email address remained unanswered till the time of going to press. “There have been multiple communications that have gone from industry bodies regarding the matter, but the zero MDR move will be a major dampener since banks are not going to absorb the cost of deploying payment terminals,” said a senior banker with a private sector lender. Pratik Bhakta 4 Comments Save The Payments Council of India, which represents more than 100 payments companies, did not respond to an email till press time.
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MobiKwik & Chola MS offer Rs 1 lakh accident cover at Rs 20 premium
Publication- The Economic Times
Edition- Online
Date- 26 July, 2019
Continuing its push towards sachet type products, fintech platform MobiKwik, in association with Chola MSrolled out a personal accident cover of Rs 1 lakh for a premium of Rs 20 per year. The product can be purchased on the Mobikwik app, which claims around 110 million users. Users have an option to increase the sum insured to Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh with annual premiums of Rs 60 and Rs 100 respectively, according to a release. In the event of an accident, the policyholder or the registered nominee can directly contact Chola MS to register their claim.
Thereafter, the payout will be made directly to the beneficiary, after due verification, the release elaborated. Upasana Taku, co-founder, MobiKwik said, “India continues to be grossly under-penetrated market, with a non-life penetration of less than 1 percent. General insurance distribution and adoption outside large cities is poor for reasons for access, awareness, appreciation of need, and affordability. Through our first bite-sized general insurance offering, we are looking to introduce first-time buyers to insurance, and helping them along their journey beyond basic financial services.” She further added, “With these micro-insurance products and other personalized offerings in the future, we are confident of disrupting the general insurance market.”
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UPI account for bank transfers, checking account balance: How to setup and use and top apps for UPI
Publication- The Indian Express
Edition- Online
Date- 26 July, 2019
Unified Payments Interface or UPI has been developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and as an avid user of the service, I can confidently say that it is the best thing to happen to our banking system with respect to ease of banking for customers. It merges different banking services and features under one umbrella. A single UPI ID can be used to check bank balance, make payments at merchants, transfer money using the mobile number or bank account or unique UPI ID. The UPI platform was launched in April 2016, but it received a big push when private players like PhonePe and Google Tez (now Google Pay) started offering UPI services with reward schemes, cashback offers, and full-page ads in newspapers post demonetisation drive in November 2016.
As per NPCI data, the platform saw a total of 3.1 crores worth of transactions in August 2016, but in June 2019, the transaction amount has increased to 1,46,566.35 crores. From 21 banks onboard the UPI in August 2016, the UPI platform has now a total of 142 banks on board. For an app to allow UPI transactions, it needs to belong to a bank or payments bank or partner with a banking entity. These are the top apps used for UPI transactions in the country.
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RBI panel for hike in collateral-free lending, MUDRA loan limit to Rs 20 lakh
Publication- The New Indian Express
Edition- Online
Date- 26 July, 2019
A committee constituted by the RBI has recommended an increase in the collateral-free lending limit to Rs 20 lakh for MSMEs and self-help groups, Parliament was informed on Thursday. The committee has also recommended revision of loan limit sanctioned under MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 10 lakh, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for MSMEs, said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
In another reply to the Lower House, he said, 22.83 lakh Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) were registered on Udyog Aadhaar Portal in the country during March 2018 to March 2019.
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Government forms new committee to examine FDI-related issues in e-commerce industry, says Piyush Goyal
Publication- The Indian Wire
Edition- Online
Date- 26 July, 2019
Piyush Goyal, minister for commerce and industry, July 12, said that the government of India has established a new committee to look into the issue related to FDI (Foreign direct investment) in e-commerce industry, reported Inc42, citing Economic Times. Goyal announced the formation of the committee while replying to a question posed in the Lok Sabha on July 24. “A committee has been constituted on July 12 under Additional Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with members from the Department of Commerce, Department of Consumer Affairs, Department of Commerce, Department of Consumer Affairs, Department of Legal Affairs and Ministry of MSME to examine issues related to FDI in ecommerce and give its suggestions,” Goyal said.
The freshly made FDI policy came into effect from 1 February, 2019. The policy states that a vendor will be considered “controlled” by an online marketplace operator if it sources more than 25 per cent of its merchandise from an entity related to the e-commerce marketplace.
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WhatsApp Payments battling Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe for India's $1 trillion opportunity by end of year
Publication- Business Insider
Edition- Online
Date- 26 July, 2019
WhatsApp Payments will finally be launching in India by the end of the year, according to Will Cathcart, WhatsApp’s Global Head. The Facebook-owned messaging service will finally have a crack at India’s digital payments sector that’s set to grow five times by 2023 reaching $1 trillion according to Credit Suisse. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, stated, "Even in a limited test, the feedback was very positive. So I'm quite confident that when we can roll this out broadly, it's going to be meaningfully valuable to the user experience," during Facebook's Q2 2019 earnings call on Wednesday.
But it will be going up against the likes of Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm and Mobikwik — payment operators who have been in the Indian market for considerably longer. Even Paypal is reportedly looking to launch its payments service in India and is forming a strategy to comply with Indian laws.
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