Spice Money: Industry Monitoring (29 to 31 December 2018)
- Priyanka Kanodia
- Dec 31, 2018
- 3 min read
Spice Money
Industry News
Govt’s epayments platform looks to regain market share lost to private competition
Publication- The Economic Times
Edition- Online
Date- 31 December, 2018
BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money), the digital payments platform promoted by the government, is betting on merchant and utility bill payments to expand its acceptance across the country. While it had started on the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) journey early, with a push from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it has consistently been losing market share to private peers such as Paytm, PhonePe and Google Pay. Since it cannot offer heavy cashback or discounts like others, it has embarked on multiple merchant tie-ups to offer attractive discounts to customers. “There are roughly 140 promotional programmes on BHIM UPI ecosystem across categories of merchants and the total number of monthly merchant transactions on BHIM UPI has doubled compared to last year around the same time,” said a spokesman of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which developed the UPI and is the umbrella organisation for all retail payments in India.
“Right now, person-to-merchant transactions are to the tune of 25-30% of overall UPI transactions on BHIM.” BHIM has garnered around 38 million app downloads and industry insiders say that it remains a very popular mode of transaction in smaller cities and towns. Especially customers of many smaller banks which do not have their own UPI applications can get their customers to use BHIM. “Customers of 128 banks spread across the country can make payments through BHIM UPI, to drive its usage across the country, BHIM app is available in 12 vernacular languages apart from English for users to choose from and also across feature phones,” said the spokesman.
Please click on the link below:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/govts-epayments-platform-looks-to-regain-market-share-lost-to-private-competition/articleshow/67317457.cms
e-Mandate: Transforming recurring payments
Publication- DNA India
Edition- Online
Date- 31 December, 2018
After UPI and Aadhar based payments, the next solution that can create a massive impact on fintech industry is e-Mandate. It is the next level of National Automated Clearing House (NACH) aiming to create better ecosystem for facilitating clearing services. e-Mandate is a digital payment tool that fast tracks recurring payments by replacing physical mandates. e-Mandate once registered takes away the hassle of premium paying responsibility from the individual customer and puts the responsibility on the corporate to collect premium on the due date. Compared to other modes it is cost effective. It is secure and ensures the money is remitted only to the concerned corporate, which is a challenge in case of RTGS/NEFT/IMPS/UPI payments, as these are prone to typing errors while making the transactions.
e-Mandate will manage fast, convenient and digital payments by reducing processing time by 80%. It authorises banks, other financial institutions, utility companies, etc, to debit the required amount from your bank account automatically, which makes it hassle free for customers. It works well in case of Equated Monthly Installments for loans, rental payments, utility bill payments and other financial services.
Please click on the link below:
https://www.dnaindia.com/personal-finance/column-e-mandate-transforming-recurring-payments-2702289
Flashback 2018: Fintech segment continues to enjoy the purple patch
Publication- Tech Circle
Edition- Online
Date- 31 December, 2018
India's nascent but fast-growing fintech sector recorded another year of success in terms of funding and entrepreneurial activity, but 2018 will also be remembered for a number of policy changes that will impact the way companies in the segment do business for years. The sector was witness to several reforms by the Reserve Bank of India: Guidelines on the maximum merchant discount rate that can be levied on debit card transactions, stricter norms for mobile wallets, allowing interoperability through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as well as issuing rules for peer-to-peer lending platforms.
According to Sangram Singh, chief executive of mobile wallet firm Freecharge, customer adoption has been one of the most important factors that led to multiple players entering the fintech sector, thereby expanding the scope of the financial ecosystem. Consequently, internet and smartphone penetration will continue to be a significant driver for growth in the fintech domain. “There is a huge potential in lending and investment segments for financial services penetration, considering this is still an under-served space. Evolving customer behaviour and increase in demand by end-users have impelled players to undergo rapid digital transformation and focus on delivery of new customer-focused technology efficiently,” Singh added.
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