There is a perception getting built inside the government that big technology companies -- a common term used for firms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon and the like - are becoming very powerful and present multiple threats to entire nations and their citizens today. The digital ecosystem is replete with CSAM (child sexual abuse material), fake news, drug trade, radicalisation, trolling among other social vices. Given the network effect that these platforms have, it is important to ensure that these platforms are not misused.
'La Nuova Dolce Vita' is the tagline of Ferrari's Roma which translates into 'The New Good Life'. The Roma is a Ferrari GT (Grand Touring) sports car and is also part of their entry-level lineup but it is everything but entry-level. This Rs 4.5 crore (on-road, Mumbai) performance machine is an all-new Prancing Horse that is visually striking, high on tech and being a Ferrari, offers thrilling performance that will excite your senses.
The recent Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms on tokenisation services, which will be offered by card networks, are likely to result in merchants and payment aggregators incurring a cost as they have to pay a fee to the networks. The merchants and the payment aggregators, in turn, may pass on the cost to the customers. The norms, which were issued by the banking regulator released on September 7, allow card networks like Visa and Mastercard to offer the tokenisation service.
With the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) extended deadline coming to an end, there will be no automatic recurring payment for various services including recharge and utility bill as the additional factor of authentication (AFA) will become mandatory from Friday. On December 4, RBI had directed all banks including RRBs, NBFCs, and payment gateways that the processing of recurring transactions (domestic or cross-border) using cards or Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) or Unified Payments Interface (UPI) under arrangements/practices not compliant with AFA would not be continued beyond March 31, 2021. As part of risk mitigation measures, RBI announced this step to bolster safety and security of card transactions.
The banned Chinese apps, which include TikTok, Shareit and UC Browser, earn revenue mainly from online advertisements, subscriptions, and commissions for selling products. India is the biggest driver of these Chinese apps due to the population. The ban on the 59 Chinese apps will negatively affect the valuations of the companies, especially those going for IPO.
Indian industry snubbed Google Play's decision to cut by half its commission for developers when they make $1 million in annual revenue for in-app purchases, saying the US tech giant may continue its "abrasive & monopolistic abuse" as it owns the Android system. Google Play said Tuesday that beginning July 1 it would slash its 30 per cent billing fee to 15 per cent for developers globally when they make the first $1 million of their annual revenue.
In a bid to ensure security of card data, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enhanced the scope of tokenisation and permitted card issuers to act as token service providers (TSP). Under tokenisation services, a unique alternate code is generated to facilitate transactions through cards. The RBI on Tuesday extended the device-based tokenisation to card-on-file tokenisation (CoFT) services, a move that will bar the merchants from storing actual card data. Card-on-file refers to card information stored by payment gateway and merchants to process future transactions.
Everyday consumerables, such as grocery and order-in food items are the key buyout sector, analysts say, and a major reason for kirana stores' digitisation push.
Adversarial Harmful Networks -- India Case Study, cited in Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen's SEC complaints, revealed, among other things, that Facebook was a preferred platform for 'fear-mongering anti-Muslim narratives' in India, observes Devangshu Datta.
FB deal puts RIL on course to be debt-free next year; Reliance Retail biggest gainer from WhatsApp, JioMart arrangement.
While players in the financial ecosystem are opening up to the idea of receivables funding for the sector, this market needs a regulator, which a Parliament panel feels only RBI can provide.
Raja Sen lists movies that would work wonders for any generation lucky enough to see them on the big screen.
Modi government plans to set up a committee of five or six chief ministers to suggest ways to promote digitisation.
According to industry insiders, India has 400 million smartphones and is the world's fastest-growing app market. So the addition or deletion of apps impacts the global valuations of these platforms. "Based on calls given by various local organisations to delete Chinese Apps, there will be an impact," said Blaise Fernandes, director at foreign policy think tank Gateway House. "All of them eventually will go the IPO (initial public offering) route so there would be economic impact also."
To bring in more transparency, the Maharashtra government will launch e-payment gateways for stamp duty and registration charges.
Not only is the number of native language users set to grow faster than English users over the next five years, these users are more likely to lead a more active digital life. Arundhuti Dasgupta & Urvi Malvania find out how brands are rethinking digital marketing plans to accommodate this.
'I can tell shareholders we're going to be very responsible with our capital, we're going to be absolutely execution focused.'
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday recommended about 39 per cent reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of spectrum for mobile services, including the latest 5G offering, as it looked to match revenue expectations with the industry's paying capacity. With large swathes of spectrum remaining unsold in the last two auctions, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommended to the government for selling airwaves in all existing bands of 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and new slots of 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz. It has suggested a lower reserve price for all bands, compared to the prices proposed in the previous recommendations in 2018.
Google is going ahead with a policy revision mandating 30% charge on in-app purchases across all apps on Play Store. This has left developers' community worried about tighter squeeze on their earnings, says Yuvraj Malik.
'Digital India' initiative has a huge potential, he said.
The telecom companies have also been asked to urgently improve their infrastructure, as the government aims to digitise a host of services.
E-commerce firms and sellers including Amazon and eBay have made recommendations to the government for a differentiated policy framework for e-commerce in the revised Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) which is expected to come into effect from April 1, 2021. This is because the existing policies on exports have catered largely to traditional, offline and business-to-business exports. Suggestions have been made to the government that through the FTP, it is important to create a conducive policy framework for e-commerce exports that lowers the entry barrier for small businesses to start exporting, according to the industry sources.
Mobile payments alone gathered close to $1.51 billion in the year 2017 through 13 rounds of funding, according to data compiled by Tracxn
Shine Jacob & Karan Choudhury highlight the red flags raised by the Controller General of Accounts.
From Covid to climate change, Shankar Acharya's look at some of the trends and events that might shape 2022.
From small retailers' experiences with e-wallets to digital transaction numbers post demonetisation, Geetanjali Krishna and Karan Choudhury find out where the truth lies.
'The real test whether the movie has worked or not is when the people remember it five years later. Just like wine and relationships, the same is true for movies.'
The figure assumes significance as the Sabarimala temple had witnessed frenzied devotees opposing the entry of women belonging to the menstrual-age in the wake of landmark Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all ages to offer prayers at the hill shrine.
'If journalism is the first draft of history, then photojournalism is the first draft of its evidence,' Raghu Rai, arguably India's finest living photojournalist, tells Pavan Lall.
While online coaching has become a big hit during the lockdown, the path ahead is not easy, reports Rupesh Dutta.
The last few months have been hard on digital wallets which had a short-lived dream run post-demonetisation.
'With just 2.4 per cent of global landmass, India houses six to eight per cent of planetary biodiversity and hence is a prime target of wildlife criminals.'
Either drivers were blissfully unaware of the requirement or they hadn't bothered to get one installed in their vehicle.
Apart from making your purchases on these platforms expensive, it will also mean sellers will have to face the brunt of reduced cash flows amid already low margins for some. Experts said the proposal, which will take effect on April 1, 2020, and will be inserted as a new section in the Income Tax Act, is expected to affect the working capital of e-commerce companies and reduce cash flows for e-sellers.
The ban in India would hit Chinese internet companies that were making headway in the world's fastest-growing mobile market.
Sleep has been a casualty for Vijay Shekhar Sharma, whose wallet company Paytm has a user base of close to 150 million and is working 20 hours a day.
Unlike most MF distributors in India, Paytm Money will be offering low-cost direct plans, which don't charge for distribution expenses
The payments industry is at a crossroads with the banking regulator on two pressing issues, neither of which seems headed towards an amicable solution. Depending upon which side accommodates the other, customers in India will have to choose between convenience and ironclad safety. In the end, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which regulates both banks and all payments services providers, will prevail. But the question is: will it do so by bending a little or by sticking to its firm stand? The two issues - one concerning payment facilitators storing customers' card details and the other about auto-renewal of payments - appear similar but aren't.
Ride-hailing services are also lobbying the government for the recognition of a new category for motorcycle-shared services, where the owner should not have to take a commercial licence. Pooled services is another area where taxi aggregators are hoping to make the government listen to them.
In significant push towards a less-cash economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced starting a biometric payment system using Aadhar platform within two weeks even as he exhorted citizens to adopt digital currency from the new year.
