Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has secured regulatory approval for launching its digital payment platform -- WhatApp Pay -- in a phased manner, close to two years after the US-based company's pilot run.
The finance ministry (FinMin) has asked Infosys to work on ways to extract and access taxpayers' real-time data faster and accurately as it is crucial for taking decisions on policy changes. While reviewing progress of the income tax portal 2.0, which had faced glitches, the officials also told the Infosys team to increase the scope of pre-filled data in the ITR forms. Senior officials in the ministry held a review meeting last month with the Infosys team and officials of the Central Processing Centre (CPC).
Google on Thursday said it will offer users of Google Pay enhanced privacy features, allowing them to take control of their own transaction data. Google Pay is rolling out an update to the app from next week that will provide users with more controls to decide how their Google Pay activity is used to personalise features within the app. All users will be asked to choose whether they would like to turn the control on or off as soon as they upgrade to the next version of the Google Pay app.
The digital transformation should not be confined to a small part of the "human race" and its greater benefits will be realised only when digital access becomes "truly inclusive", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the G-20 summit on Wednesday. Modi also strongly pitched for a pledge by the G-20 leaders to work for bringing digital transformation into the life of every human being in the next 10 years so that no person is deprived of the benefits of the new technologies. In a session on digital transformation, the prime minister also said that principle of "data for development" will be an integral part of the overall theme of India's upcoming G-20 Presidency.
'The market has picked up for commercial vehicles. We are very close to pre-pandemic levels.'
'We now understand things that we have to correct.'
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday said India is a very special and important country with a remarkable entrepreneurship culture, as he sought to push deeper the just-launched payments services that allow users to make payments over WhatsApp. Last month, Facebook-owned WhatsApp received approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for rolling out its payments services in India. In 2018, WhatsApp started testing its UPI-based payments services in India -- a global first -- with about a million users.
If bank and service provider are not compliant, pay manually, or give standing instruction linked to bank a/c, suggests Bindisha Sarang.
As unified payments interface gets popular, cash transactions will come down as most small payments will be routed through this.
Semi-high-speed 'Namo Bharat' train services on the 17-km priority section of India's first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) rail corridor will be opened for people from Saturday morning.
India's Internet economy has two choices: An immediate $30 billion Sale-and-Leaseback or a $3 trillion value harvesting over decades, observes Vibhu Arya.
Earlier this month, RBI told the Delhi high court that Google Pay is a third party app provider and does not operate any payment systems. Therefore, its operations are not in violation of the Payment and Settlement System Act of 2007.
Key lending rate (repo) raised by 50 basis points to 4.9 per cent; 2nd increase in 5 weeks
A merchant using the bank's merchant App, QR code, PoS or Payment gateways, across all segments, including electronics, apparel, grocery, stand to win assured cashback and prizes on volume build-up, EMI or digital transactions.
WhatsApp's advantage is that it is the first app millions of Indian check first thing in the morning and innumerable times during the day and night.
In a business friendly move, the Reserve Bank of India on Friday said that the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, used for large value transactions, will be made available round-the-clock in the next few days. In December 2019, the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system was made available on a 24x7x365 basis. Currently, RTGS is available for customers from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm on all working days of a week, except second and fourth Saturdays of every month.
Data processing compliance is the main reason behind the delay. The government, on several occasions, has made it clear that Indian financial data needs to be stored exclusively onshore and if it is processed outside, it needs to be brought back in 24 hours.
The Unified Payment Interface could propel banking into a new era
Technology giant Apple has informed its customers in India that it will no longer store their card information on file and will not be accepting payments made by debit cards and credit cards for purchases or subscriptions on the App store or other Apple services. The decision has been taken by the US-based company in view of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) card data storage guidelines, which will kick in from July 1. The deadline for implementing these norms was extended twice.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel's CEO has warned customers about rising cases of cyber-frauds, citing a recent instance of a fraudster who posed as company executive and under the guise of updating KYC form, tricked a user into revealing bank details to transfer large amount from the bank account. In an email outreach to subscribers, Gopal Vittal, CEO of Airtel urged users to be vigilant against such cases of cyber fraud that are becoming "alarmingly frequent". Vittal spoke of a recent case where a cyber-fraudster posing as company executive called up an Airtel customer on the pretext of updating his Know Your Customer (KYC) form, tricked him into revealing his bank details and transferred a large sum of money from his bank account.
Nandan Nilekani talks about moving towards a cashless economy and freedom of Internet, among others
Unified Payments Interface launched to simplify mobile banking.
Paytm said the global tech giant's move was hypocritical as Google, too, regularly runs similar scratch card campaigns in India under its Google Pay app.
CCI decided to pursue investigation on two issues - these relate to "exclusivity regarding the mode of payment for the purchase of apps and in-app purchases" and "pre-installation and prominence of Google Pay on Android smartphones".
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.
'I don't think we have ever seen such alignment of everything that we need in the banking sector.'
The Union Budget on Wednesday outlined several initiatives to drive India's technology agenda and boost digital infrastructure, including new centres of excellence for artificial intelligence, National Data Governance Policy, and Entity DigiLocker.
By the end of December 2021, India had 389 million users who did not have access to mobile Internet, while there were 765.8 million mobile Internet users in the country.
He said Congress would push Madhya Pradesh back into the BIMARU (laggard) category if given an opportunity again.
While mobile wallets are still busy exploring the multiple facets of interoperability, experts believe that bringing in new customers would be costly affair and the numbers of new wallet users might not see a major hike anytime soon.
The focus will definitely shift towards more meaningful trips than the kind of micro trips we were into before, says Varun Arora.
'Isn't it obvious? Do you have a doubt? There is so much data that shows that there is quid pro quo.' 'There are many instances of donations being given after the raids, donations being given before the award of a contract and many other permutations and combinations.'
The Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour given by France is another in a series of top international awards and honours bestowed by various countries on Prime Minister Modi.
Banks shall not charge fees for transactions settled on IMPS and UPI in excess of rates charged for NEFT for transactions above Rs 1,000, the order said.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, will answer your personal income tax queries.
Agriculture, social services, education, defence and so on will be brought into the digital fold and every gram panchayat will be connected to the internet.
This year, PhonePe is focussed on bringing more partners across categories, including travel, commute, food, hyper-local, retail and entertainment on the platform.
Google on Friday said it is deferring the deadline for developers in India to integrate with its Play billing system from March 2022 to October next year. In October last year, the company had announced March 31, 2022 as the deadline for developers in India to integrate with Play's billing system. A Google spokesperson on Friday said the extension has been done in view of the changes to India's recurring digital payments guidelines.
After Yes Bank was placed under moratorium, digital payments were impacted as PhonePe, which depends on the cash-strapped lender for its transactions, could not operate. Even the bank's own net banking facilities have not been operational since last evening. Other fintech operators who rely on Yes Bank to settle their transactions are also down.
More than ever before, women voters can make or mar a political party's electoral fortunes.
