The share of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in monthly new business premium (NBP) in the life insurance sector declined to 58.50 per cent in September 2023 from 68.25 per cent in September 2022 -- a drop of 975 basis points -- owing to shortcomings in the product and distribution side of business. However, the market share saw a marginal uptick from the 57.37 per cent recorded in August this year. According to the monthly business data released for September 2023 by the Life Insurance Council, the NBP of LIC up to September 2023 stood at Rs 92,462.62 crore as compared to about Rs 1.25 trillion in the same period a year ago.
The average ticket size (ATS) of all transactions on United Payments Interface (UPI) in H1 2023 was pegged at Rs 1,604, marking a 10 per cent decline, compared to Rs 1,774 in H1 2022, according to data from Worldline India's Digital Payments Report. The reduction in the overall ATS on UPI is a good sign, suggesting a deeper embedding of UPI as it is being used for smaller or micro-transactions, and the dip is driven by the growth in person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions, the report said. The ATS of P2M transactions dipped 21 per cent from Rs 839 in H1 2022 to Rs 659 in H1 2023.
Debit card payments remained sluggish due to the surge in digital transactions after the pandemic, and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has emerged as the most popular mode of money transfer, particularly for small value transactions, according to RBI data. In July 2020, the total debit card spends stood at Rs 2.81 trillion, as compared to Rs 3.15 trillion in July 2023, reflecting a growth of 11.96 per cent. UPI spends have seen a whopping growth of 428 per cent, zooming from Rs 2.90 trillion to Rs 15.33 trillion during the same period, the data revealed.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday suspended Air India's Boeing simulator facility in Mumbai after finding certain alleged lapses during a spot check, a DGCA official said. The pilots, who were scheduled to undergo refresher courses at the Mumbai facility, will now not be able to do so.
Outward remittances under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) surged by 50.64 per cent to $9.1 billion in the April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1) of 2023-24 (FY24), driven by healthy growth across segments due to a revision in the timeline of tax collected at source under the LRS scheme and normalisation in international travel. Major drivers include equity and debt investments, deposits, and the international travel segment, among others. According to the latest RBI data, the amount remitted under LRS stood at $9.1 billion in Q1FY24, compared with $6.05 billion in the same quarter last year.
Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants (PwC India) has resigned as the auditor of Paytm Payments Services, the fintech major said in a regulatory filing on Monday. "...we wish to inform you that M/s. Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP ... statutory auditors of material subsidiary i.e. Paytm Payments Services Limited (PPSL) have resigned with effect from August 7, 2023," the company added. Paytm said that the statutory auditors had not raised any concerns or issues and that the company had noted PwC's resignation.