There are 55 non-banking PPIs operational now, apart from 50 wallets promoted by banks.
So who stands to benefit the most by a weak Opposition? What's behind the sudden public spat between the two parties?
'Raj will have to do a lot more to win over the public and overcome the trust deficit. It is a lot of work and needs political patience, which can come with maturity and understanding. All of these seem to be lacking in the man.'
support for the AAP notwithstanding, the BJP is convinced it will win Delhi.
Despite a strong anti-corruption mood, where election costs are seen as the driver for graft, politicians don't change their spots. Unsurprisingly, this trend of unleashing cash can be expected to continue in this Lok Sabha elections too, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Wednesday dubbed the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party as "KASAB", adding yet another acronym in the Uttar Pradesh poll campaign, and said development will elude the state till "Kasab is laid to rest".
943 candidates are contesting 71 seats spread across 9 states.
It's impossible to get the actual number of people dying and not getting compensation but the number is obviously much more than stingy official estimates. In any case, nowhere in the world are people sent inside gas chambers without oxygen cylinders and masks. Unofficial estimates suggest that on an average, one sanitation worker dies every five days all over the country, writes Shyamal Majumdar.
'I never do anything half-hearted.' 'So, if I've taken the plunge in politics I'm in it for good, for the long run and I will definitely do a world of good.'
'Amit A Shah's sharp vilification can be interpreted as a sign of nervousness in the saffron camp,' says Amulya Ganguli.
The kisan is as integral a part of the BJP's master plan for the 2019 polls as the Dalit because it surmised that the farmers and Dalits were as restive in UP as in much of the country, and if it had to cut its losses, its reflexes must kick in fast. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Hinting at the possible post-poll strategy of his party, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday said the chances of Narendra Modi becoming the prime minister were slim, and the Congress could form the next government by joining hands with "the Third Front".
'There is need to invent another enemy.' 'If you can add Maoists to Muslims, the tukde-tukde thread will tie in nicely.' 'You might even have a 'nation in grave danger' story by the summer of 2019,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
However, the MLA, who was upset at not being made a minister, said he will go by the instructions of his voters and supporters on accepting the saffron party's offer.
'Rather than an outcome of 'pro-incumbency', the exit poll results betray a completely lackadaisical approach of the Opposition parties.' 'While a new kind of politics was on display for the past five years, they were still mired in their old-style methods which will cost them the election,' predicts Utkarsh Mishra.
The 36 new ministers included 10 cabinet and four ministers of state (MoS) of the NCP, eight Cabinet and four MoS of the Sena, and eight Cabinet and two MoS of the Congress.
Party also plans over 35 virtual rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
The relevance of organisations like AGNI was further highlighted when the Governor cited that the transition of Mumbai to Shanghai was only possible with active citizen participation.
The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which emerged as the second largest party in the Kalyan-Dombivli civic polls with 28 seats in the 107-member House, on Monday decided not to form the new civic government and work as an Opposition party
In Mumbai, where the Shiv Sena-BJP combine pulled out all stops to retain power in India's richest civic body, the voting percentage was better than that in the last polls.
Counting has begun for the election which will be the second democratic transition of power in the nation's 70-year history.
With hi-tech Narendra Modi at the helm of Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign, its Mission 272 plus is all set to cash in on the popularity of the Internet and the social media. The Congress has a lot of catching up to do. Anita Katyal reports
A seven-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur said the secular ethos of the Constitution had to be maintained by keeping elections a secular exercise.
An estimated 66 per cent of the electorate on Tuesday exercised their franchise in assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh amidst sporadic violence in which one polling agent was killed.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha has appealed to voters in Malad and Sion-Koliwada assembly constituencies in Mumbai, Maharashtra, to elect her party's candidates in the October 13 elections.
The government will also decide in eight to ten days on how to extend the benefit to customers in Mumbai.
I think we are just too complacent about our electoral system. There's a lot that is very wrong with it. But we continue to parrot the boring mantra of this being the greatest electoral exercise in the world. Things are not going to change. Next election let's just boycott the whole process en masse, says Sherna Gandhy.
Accusing Owaisi brothers of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen's of "poisoning" the minds of Muslims, Shiv Sena today said the Hyderabad-based outfit would be defeated in the Aurangabad municipal polls the same way it was routed in the recently-held Bandra bypoll.
'If you are opposed to the nationwide NRC, you should oppose the NPR.'
If a masked man climbed upto your window and demanded something from you, what would your first reaction be?
'Nothing will change in the richest municipal corporation in the country.' 'New faces with the same surnames will get party tickets.' 'So the same order, the same money spending systems, will continue.'
The challenge is making governments at the Centre and in the states start focusing on the needs of towns and cities
Inundated with frivolous complaints in recent times, the BCCI's Ombudsman and Ethics Officer D K Jain has devised a mechanism to ensure that only genuine complaints are entertained.
'What has India got out of Howdy India in substantive terms?' asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Families take more frequent breaks on long weekends.
'The economy is in a free fall.'
'And it's been declining for so long, so consistently, that the promise of growth and better days now looks a fantasy.' 'A mid-1970s kind of pessimism, even hopelessness, is growing among the young.' 'This isn't what Mr Modi promised them.' 'Their aspirations and needs are clear and present, and not being fulfilled,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Deol reminded voters of the patriotic character he played in Gadar and referred to his 'dhai kilo ka haath' from another movie.
In the bitterly-fought election, the BJP secured a landslide mandate, winning 312 out of 403 seats in the northern state.
'The land is partly with the government, partly with the company. In the changed economic scenario, I cannot say how quickly another plant will come up there,' said West Bengal's Industry Minister Nirupam Sen.
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