Poor earnings show in the September quarter (Q2FY24), with hints of likely weakness in asset quality going ahead, forced analysts to cut earnings estimates of SBI Cards and Payment Services (SBI Card). On the bourses, shares of the State bank of India arm tumbled 7.4 per cent to Rs 732 apiece on the BSE in the intraday trade as investors factord in near-term concerns. Analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, for instance, slashed SBI Card earnings by 8 per cent and 10 per cent for FY24 and FY25, respectively, as they expect the company to face pesistent magin pressure.
'Dear Business Partner, Kindly note and inform your all customers that Digital Cashback has been revised from 0.75 per cent to 0.25 per cent with effect from August 1, 2018 across oil industry for all loyalty customers,' said the text message sent by State-owned oil companies to petrol pump operators.
Ways on how consumers can maximise benefits.
As in the past, it is up to the merchants to decide if they will bear the burden of the charge or bill it to the customers. Subhomoy Bhattacharjee reports.
To promote cashless transactions, the government had waived the Merchant Discount Rate on fuel purchase post demonetisation for consumers. But after the expiry of the 50-day window, the banks have decided to levy MDR on petrol pump owners.
In the same quarter a year before, most of them had reported a dismal performance.
The Bharat Interface For Money app was launched on the iOS platform earlier this month. It is also available on the more popular Android platform. There have been over 17 million downloads of the BHIM app so far.
When Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was conceived last December, the idea was to reduce the dominance of e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart. It was also to bring in a level-playing field for small merchants in India's fragmented but fast-growing $1-trillion retail market. However, those goals have changed now as large e-commerce players such as Flipkart, Amazon and Ecom Express are in various levels of talks with the ONDC team. They want to form partnerships like integrating with the network as well as providing their expertise to build it, according to the industry sources.
The government on Monday proposed income tax benefits for people making payments through credit or debit cards and doing away with transaction charges on purchase of petrol, gas and rail tickets with plastic money.
While brick-and-mortar retailers have been the most vocal in their protests, e-tailers do not seem to be in a hurry.
Despite the demonetisation of 2016 and the rise in digital transactions that followed, the economy's dependence on cash has remained as high as ever. So when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced a pilot project of its version of digital cash - called the central bank digital currency (CBDC) - on December 1, many questions were asked. Can the CBDC replace physical cash, even partially? Can it match cash in terms of convenience? Are CBDC transactions truly anonymous?
For financial institutions, it will be an opportunity to provide better lending options. For instance, customers who pay their overdrafts on time will get access to more credit and probably at a cheaper rate.
Investors are increasingly turning optimistic about shares of new-age companies. From broad-based 'sell' calls, analysts are giving thumbs up to Zomato, Paytm, and FSN e-Commerce Ventures-owned Nykaa as these companies have shifted focus to sustainable profits. The shares of Zomato hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 126 apiece on the BSE on November 7, having rallied 15.4 per cent in one week.
Tripti Rai explains the unique features of Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app developed by the National Payment Corporation of India.
The temptation to get into businesses that are hot is perhaps too great for any politician, no matter what his public slogans are. Nehru plunged into hot sectors of his time -- engineering and iron and steel. Modi has plunged into digital payments -- the hot sector of his time, notes Debashis Basu.
Shine Jacob & Karan Choudhury highlight the red flags raised by the Controller General of Accounts.
In the excitement over the allocation of bank licences for the private sector, a new category of licence offered by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last year went almost unnoticed. That was when the RBI consolidated the rules for prepaid payment instruments (PPI), popularly understood as e-wallets or gift cards. In the process, the regulator has fast-forwarded a bottom-up card usage industry in India that is completely different from the world of bank-linked credit and debit cards.
'The focus needs to shift towards the ability to collect payments, particularly in tier-3 to tier-4 areas where acceptance is still lacking.'
As you swipe your credit/debit card with carefree abandon at merchant outlets, banks are losing money to the tune of Rs 3,800 crore annaully, says Soumya Kanti Ghosh
'This was earlier driven by industries and the commercial sector.'
'If you wish to make a big-ticket purchase on EMI without having to pay additional charges, no-cost EMI would be the right choice for you.'
At a time when the Modi government is attempting to push cashlessness with coercive means, Devangshu Datta explains why cash usage is popular even in nations with good cashless infrastructure.
The bank lost out on fairly meaningful quantum of fees from point of sale terminals and ATM usage during the demonetisation exercise.
Arundhati Bhattacharya talks about SBI's strategies, its aim to be among the top 30 banks globally, and stressed assets resolution.
BJP's total silence on Delhi statehood is intriguing.
Heading to the third year, will Urjit Patel be busy firefighting a currency crisis? Almost no governor of the RBI managed to evade it and Patel perhaps knows it.
High return rates in the e-commerce space are making a dent in the margins of e-retailers.
Digital payments and financial services firm Paytm is likely to allocate shares at the upper price band of Rs 2,150 apiece on November 16 after market regulator SEBI's approval which is expected to come on Monday, sources aware of the development said. Earlier the allocation was expected to take place on Monday and the Paytm Money app also displayed the same.
It's not easy to ignore the newspaper ads with Diwali offers.
In a short span of time, with the help of Amazon, Cloudtail was able to devise a model that could protect it from the vagaries of online retail business.
Live commerce, quick commerce, group buying, WhatsApp commerce, dukaantech have made their mark.
'You should be able to juggle them, extract the most rewards out of them, and most importantly, be able to repay your dues on time.' 'However, you shouldn't try to get multiple cards at once,' advises Adhil Shetty, CEO, BankBazaar.com.
For those who are sceptical about using debit or credit cards, even when faced with cash crunch, Adhil Shetty, CEO of BankBazaar.com, lists out a few safe cashless options that can be exercised through mobile phones.
Loan rates will change at the next reset, while deposit rates will continue till maturity.
Rajesh Bhayani highlights all that you need to know about the online currency.
Travel cards are like debits cards-loaded with the currency of your choice or which the lenders offer.
With a surge in users and transactions in two weeks, payment wallets step up cashbacks to get more users online.
While some are relatively new in this business, Vodafone, which has 1.8 million touch points in the country, has been offering basic banking and payment services through its pre-paid mobile digital semi-closed wallet called M-Pesa since 2012.
Have patience and bear with this turmoil. Do not panic. Buy at declines for the long term, says Nirmal Jain.
