As many as 17 cancer drugs, along with medicines and food for special medical needs for seven rare diseases, components for microwave ovens are some of the items that are set to become cheaper with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing cuts in customs duty in the Union Budget 2026-27.
Mastercard and Visa are introducing passkeys that will allow users to authenticate card payments with face scans or fingerprints, eliminating the need for one-time passwords (OTPs).
Moving beyond digital payments, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the operator of Unified Payments Interface, is planning to add more muscle to the country's digital infrastructure by setting up a fourth subsidiary, NPCI Tech Solutions Ltd (NTSL).
Filling of Rs 100 and Rs 200 notes result in faster depletion and more frequent cash replenishment. This will cost banks and managed service providers more.
The interchange fee -- paid by the card-issuing bank when a customer swipes at another bank's ATM, including at white-label ATMs -- may be raised to Rs 20 to Rs 23.
But selectively, with regulatory scrutiny and special approval, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The return on investment (RoI) from technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) will take time to materialise, and the immediate priority should be to increase spending on building governance frameworks around AI, top bank executives said.
Police on Monday detained a close associate of cleric and Ittehad-e-Millat Council chief Tauqeer Raza Khan in connection with the recent violence in Bareilly during a protest in support of the 'I Love Muhammad' campaign, officials said.
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
UPI has catapulted India into the forefront on the global digital payments landscape. Working hand in hand, the AePS payments system is making life easy for rural folks, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The transition to UPI-based ATMs will be gradual, and consumers will not immediately switch to using standalone UPI ATMs overnight.
While a giant, it's a nimble-footed one, and is growing at a speed that even some of its private sector peers find enviable.
Between FY18 and FY24, it doubled its balance sheet. Despite being a late entrant in some segments, it has been able to grab market share, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'There are tall personalities who have utilised Mumbai and Maharashtra for their career growth, but they never thought it is their responsibility to learn Marathi.'
Interchange fee is the amount charged by ATM operators for every transaction.
In response to the panic triggered by Trump's trade policies, the RBI net sold approximately $43 billion in the second half of FY25 to curb volatility, as the rupee plunged to a low of 87.95 per dollar in February this year.
A representative of the Confederation of ATM Industry said ATM players were not consulted about the move and they received the news via media platforms.
In 2023-2024, 95 scheduled commercial banks received over 10 million complaints from their customers. The process of KYC at many banks has become 'HYC' -- harass your customer, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
179 million debit cards were issued during December 2016 to June 2018. A mere 2,000 ATMs were opened in the same period.
The new requirements include a shift to cassette swap system, mandate armed guards while transferring money as well as a host of other measures that would require huge investments.
The cash crunch following demonetisation and transaction fees that do not cover costs are among the reasons why the sector is struggling.
However, the proposed model, the white-label ATM model would allow non-banking companies to set up and run their own ATMs, under a pact with a sponsor bank and a network provider.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has dismissed speculation about dissent within the Aam Aadmi Party's state unit, asserting that Congress leaders have a history of switching parties while AAP leaders remain dedicated. Mann's remarks came after Punjab Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa claimed that over 30 AAP MLAs were in touch with his party. Mann, however, dismissed Bajwa's claims, stating that Congress has a culture of switching sides. The meeting follows AAP's defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections, sparking speculation about instability in its Punjab unit. Mann reiterated the unity within AAP, highlighting his government's achievements, including closing 17 toll plazas, stopping multiple pensions for MLAs, and implementing the Delhi model in Punjab. On the promise of financial assistance of Rs 1,000 to women, he said it will be provided in the coming days. Meanwhile, the BJP has also intensified its attack on the AAP, with BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa taking a dig at Kejriwal for holding a meeting with Punjab MLAs despite AAP's defeat in Delhi.
The number of cyberfraud cases has skyrocketed from 2,677 in 1999-2000 to 29,082 in FY24 -- more than a 10-fold increase. The RBI pegs digital payment frauds at Rs 1,457 crore in FY24, up more than five times in a year. It's not just the number of frauds. What's alarming is the growing sophistication of the fraudsters, exposing the vulnerabilities within the financial system, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
At present, there is no cap on free transactions at own-bank ATMs, while customers can use other banks' machines up to five times a month without any extra cost.
The poor deployment of WLATMs has tripped what the central bank sought to achieve back in 2012.
Before inserting your card, always check for any signs of tampering on the ATM machine, warns Aditya Shankar.
It's always been a struggle for economists and statisticians to forecast India's gross domestic product (GDP) correctly, and say where the economy is headed before the official numbers come out. If estimating the GDP is tough, forecasting it in real time is complicated. It involves looking at tens of indicators, such as industrial production, electricity consumption and exports, to arrive at a number.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Wednesday slammed ally Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray's MP Sanjay Raut for his remarks on Haryana poll outcome, stressing that accusations against Congress won't be tolerated.
A reader shares a bad experience he had at an ATM. You can share yours too!
By the end of March 2022, only 2,140 million pieces of Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes were in circulation, or 13.8 per cent of the total value of notes.
But what do banks gain by opening their apps for all? The answer -- rival bank's customers under their fold.
Around 2,500 engineers and 45,000 cash management employees step up efforts to complete the target of recalibrating 12,500 ATMs every day.
The requirement of one million units would entail a huge market for firms such as HCL Infosystems, Geodesic, VeriFone, Visiontek and others manufacturing micro-ATMs.
Hackers broke into two card processing companies, raising the balances and withdrawal limits on accounts that were then exploited in coordinated ATM withdrawals around the world.
As Microsoft ends support for its Windows XP next month, the software giant said a number of ATMs are yet to upgraded and such cash vending machine may face security risk.
So what if your bank has imposed/will impose a transaction fee of Rs 20 for using ATMs after your fifth visit in a month? You can still remain within your free transaction limits and avoid being charged at all. Wondering how it is to be done? Read on.
Stating that its ATM operations are making losses, nation's largest bank SBI has said it is all for charging customers for transactions.
Even as State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, has decided to charge its customers for more than five transactions through automated teller machines (ATMs), private sectors banks continue to be on a wait-and-watch mode.
The message is clear: The 60-year-old wise uncles need to handhold the 40-year-old entrepreneurs when, obsessed with ambition and greed for growth, they become a victim of hubris, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
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