'A mule operates someone else's account to transfer illegal money.'
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday released draft guidelines for streamlining the onboarding and monitoring of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) operators to counter frauds perpetuated through the ecosystem. Banks and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) are required to comply with these directions within three months from the date of issue of the guidelines.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday issued a draft framework for alternative authentication mechanism for digital payments, wherein it has mandated that all digital payment transactions would have to be authenticated with an additional factor of authentication (AFA), except small value contactless card payments for up to Rs 5,000 at point of sale terminals, e-mandates for recurring transactions, and small value digital payments through offline mode, among others. Additionally, it has said that all digital payment transactions, other than card present transactions, have to ensure that one of the factors of authentication is dynamically created, i.e., the factor is generated after initiation of payment; is specific to the transaction; and cannot be reused.
WazirX lost about 45 per cent of its crypto assets to the security breach. People privy to the discussions say North Korea has been mentioned.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will review the performance of regional rural banks (RRBs) after the Budget session of Parliament, according to two people familiar with the matter. The finance minister will review the performance of RRBs after August 13. The review will include discussions on enhancing the digital capabilities of RRBs, said a senior government official.
Public-sector lenders Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Uco Bank are likely to raise funds through qualified institutional placement (QIP) next month. Punjab & Sind Bank is likely to follow suit later this financial year to meet the public shareholding norm of 25 per cent. When a public-sector unit raises funds through QIP, the money goes to the company because it involves issuing new shares whereas in the case of offer for sale (OFS), the money raised goes to the government because its shares are sold.
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
'A lot of them are converted to other tokens, and since crypto is dealt with internationally, it can go to any exchange in any country.'
'A credit line on UPI is going to make banks think about credit fundamentally as they digitise the credit process entirely.'
The swindled amount is nearly half of WazirX's total assets.
Major credit issuers, including the largest - HDFC Bank - have integrated their systems with the Bharat Bill Payment Systems (BBPS) for receiving credit card repayments via third-party applications.
'The dakiyas will be our partners, receiving credit proposals from micro-enterprises at the grassroots level.'
India SME Forum, an organisation for small and medium businesses, has called for creating a dedicated fund of Rs 5000 crore for the export capacity development, promotion, and marketing of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in its Budget recommendation. The forum for MSMEs with over 98,000 members said that to enhance India's global competitiveness and increase its market share in global exports, it was "crucial to increase the number of active exporters and enable at least 3-4 lakh first-time micro, small, and medium exporters while supporting them in promoting Indian products globally."
Food and grocery delivery major Zomato has pulled the plug on its plan to enter the lending business. Zomato Financial Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zomato, has withdrawn its application for a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), stating that the company does not have plans to pursue lending in the future. "There is no material impact on the revenue/operations of the company and this disclosure is being made voluntarily," the Gurgaon-based company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Some of the fintechs that will get impacted include Cred, Paytm, Phonepe and Amazon Pay, among others.
The Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India), the national agency responsible for analysing suspicious financial transactions, has received requests from four more offshore crypto exchanges to operate in India again, said a senior government official familiar with the matter. In the beginning of 2024, India had banned nine crypto exchanges - Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, Bittrex, and Bitfenix - for non-compliance with anti-laundering law in the country.
'The Budget needs to focus more on social welfare schemes.'
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has received "positive" feedback from industry regarding the 45-day payments cycle for MSMEs, according to a senior official familiar with the matter. The comment assumes significance amid concerns raised by some MSMEs that big companies may stop buying from small and medium suppliers and instead choose to make purchases from unregistered enterprises.
'The demand for housing is always increasing, and so is housing shortage.'
Fresh plans of privatisation or divestment in central public sector enterprises and public sector banks might take a back seat this financial year because these may require a large consensus among coalition partners.