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Cashless payments are growing faster in India than just about anywhere else
By John Detrixhe
November 12, 2019
Cashless payments are taking off in India, growing faster than in other countries around the world. The shift has attracted a host of tech companies, backed by deep-pocketed foreign investors, battling for market share.
Digital transactions in India increased by 55% last year, compared with 48% in China and 23% in Indonesia, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). By comparison, cashless payments grew about 10% in the UK, a developed market where card transactions are already entrenched.
India has many of the attributes that tend to propel growth in digital payments. It has a large population with deep mobile phone penetration. A large part of that population isn’t well served by existing banking services. Digital payments are forecast to grow about 29% annually in developing markets through 2024, according to consulting firm KPMG.
India’s shift to digital hasn’t always been smooth. The government suddenly banned certain banknotes in 2016, a strategy that sent shockwaves through the economy. The policy sparked a cash shortage and drove up unemployment. Consumers quickly reverted back to cash.
Since then, however, cashless payments have gathered momentum. The country has more than 10 million locations that can accept digital payments, according to KPMG, up from around 1.5 million when the government sought to snuff out banknotes. Digital transactions also got a boost from the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which facilitates real-time payments between bank accounts.
Around the world, as digital transactions replace cash, payment companies have become some of the fastest growing and most valuable enterprises. India has more than 45 mobile wallet providers, and some 50 UPI-based wallet providers, according to KPMG. There is still a lot of scope for growth: In India, there were only 18 cashless payments per inhabitant on average in 2018, compared with 142 in China and 529 in Sweden, according to the BIS.
As cashless transactions grow, competition is also increasing. Paytm, the country’s largest payments group, is looking to raise $2 billion from the likes of Ant Financial (Quartz member exclusive) and SoftBank, to fend off US giants Amazon and Walmart, according to the Financial Times (paywall). While Paytm and PhonePe, owned by Walmart, are the biggest players, Google Pay is dominant in UPI transactions. Facebook is also waiting in the wings, as WhatsApp has been gearing up to launch its own payments service.
Cashless payments are growing faster in India than just about anywhere else
By John Detrixhe
November 12, 2019
Cashless payments are taking off in India, growing faster than in other countries around the world. The shift has attracted a host of tech companies, backed by deep-pocketed foreign investors, battling for market share.
Digital transactions in India increased by 55% last year, compared with 48% in China and 23% in Indonesia, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). By comparison, cashless payments grew about 10% in the UK, a developed market where card transactions are already entrenched.
India has many of the attributes that tend to propel growth in digital payments. It has a large population with deep mobile phone penetration. A large part of that population isn’t well served by existing banking services. Digital payments are forecast to grow about 29% annually in developing markets through 2024, according to consulting firm KPMG.
India’s shift to digital hasn’t always been smooth. The government suddenly banned certain banknotes in 2016, a strategy that sent shockwaves through the economy. The policy sparked a cash shortage and drove up unemployment. Consumers quickly reverted back to cash.
Since then, however, cashless payments have gathered momentum. The country has more than 10 million locations that can accept digital payments, according to KPMG, up from around 1.5 million when the government sought to snuff out banknotes. Digital transactions also got a boost from the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which facilitates real-time payments between bank accounts.
Around the world, as digital transactions replace cash, payment companies have become some of the fastest growing and most valuable enterprises. India has more than 45 mobile wallet providers, and some 50 UPI-based wallet providers, according to KPMG. There is still a lot of scope for growth: In India, there were only 18 cashless payments per inhabitant on average in 2018, compared with 142 in China and 529 in Sweden, according to the BIS.
As cashless transactions grow, competition is also increasing. Paytm, the country’s largest payments group, is looking to raise $2 billion from the likes of Ant Financial (Quartz member exclusive) and SoftBank, to fend off US giants Amazon and Walmart, according to the Financial Times (paywall). While Paytm and PhonePe, owned by Walmart, are the biggest players, Google Pay is dominant in UPI transactions. Facebook is also waiting in the wings, as WhatsApp has been gearing up to launch its own payments service.
Cashless payments are growing faster in India than just about anywhere else
Bill Gates will pay $50,000 if you have a payment solution for feature phones in India
1 min read . Updated: 01 Dec 2019, 07:06 AM IST
Written By Anulekha Ray
Half a billion people use feature phones in India. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint
Digital transactions have gained momentum in last few years in the country. Among the various modes of digital payments, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is one of the most popular medium with a billion transactions per month in India. However, half a billion people are not able to use the service of smartphone based UPI apps as they use feature phones. To help all those feature phone users with the boon of digital transaction, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) offers you an opportunity to build inclusive payment solutions for feature phone users in India. NPCI has collaborated with CIIE.CO and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for this innovative competition.
NPCI has announced a global competition for individuals and enterprises to come up with a payment solution for feature phone users. Three winners will be selected under this challenge. The winner will get $50,000 and an opportunity to pilot the solution with NPCI. Those who will come second will get a prize money of $30,000 and third prize will be $20,000. NPCI has asked developers to apply for this challenge. The last date to file an application is January 12, 2020.
Applications will be received only through the online process. CIIE.CO & NPCI will shortlist the most promising solutions for further support. The shortlisted startups will be provided access to NPCI APIs for them to understand the technical requirements and start building their solutions, mentioned NPCI in its website. You need not be a registered firm to apply.
Selected startups will be invited to an event in Mumbai on the February 11, 2020.
The three winners will have the opportunity to pitch to the CIIE.CO team during the program. CIIE.CO can also facilitate introductions to other investors on a case to case basis. Winners will be evaluated for further acceleration or investment support via the Bharat Inclusion Initiative.
Bill Gates will pay $50,000 if you have a payment solution for feature phones
Here is the website :
Grand Challenge | Payments using feature phones
1 min read . Updated: 01 Dec 2019, 07:06 AM IST
Written By Anulekha Ray
- NPCI has announced a global competition to come up with a payment solution for feature phones users
- Three winners will be selected under this challenge
Half a billion people use feature phones in India. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint
Digital transactions have gained momentum in last few years in the country. Among the various modes of digital payments, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is one of the most popular medium with a billion transactions per month in India. However, half a billion people are not able to use the service of smartphone based UPI apps as they use feature phones. To help all those feature phone users with the boon of digital transaction, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) offers you an opportunity to build inclusive payment solutions for feature phone users in India. NPCI has collaborated with CIIE.CO and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for this innovative competition.
NPCI has announced a global competition for individuals and enterprises to come up with a payment solution for feature phone users. Three winners will be selected under this challenge. The winner will get $50,000 and an opportunity to pilot the solution with NPCI. Those who will come second will get a prize money of $30,000 and third prize will be $20,000. NPCI has asked developers to apply for this challenge. The last date to file an application is January 12, 2020.
Applications will be received only through the online process. CIIE.CO & NPCI will shortlist the most promising solutions for further support. The shortlisted startups will be provided access to NPCI APIs for them to understand the technical requirements and start building their solutions, mentioned NPCI in its website. You need not be a registered firm to apply.
Selected startups will be invited to an event in Mumbai on the February 11, 2020.
The three winners will have the opportunity to pitch to the CIIE.CO team during the program. CIIE.CO can also facilitate introductions to other investors on a case to case basis. Winners will be evaluated for further acceleration or investment support via the Bharat Inclusion Initiative.
Bill Gates will pay $50,000 if you have a payment solution for feature phones
Here is the website :
Grand Challenge | Payments using feature phones
Cashless Economy: PhonePe Crosses 5 Billion Transactions, Witness 5 Times Growth In One Year
by IANS - Dec 14 2019, 10:54 am
PhonePe app. (@Adani_Elec_Mum/image via twitter)
Digital payments platform PhonePe on Friday (13 December) announced that it has crossed 5 billion transactions on its app.
Bengaluru headquartered PhonePe crossed the one-billion transaction milestone in November last year and has grown a phenomenal 5 times in just one year, the company said in a statement.
"Our journey over the last 4 years has been incredible, not just in terms of the growth of the platform, but also in realizing the social impact that payments and financial services can create," said Sameer Nigam, Founder and CEO, PhonePe.
The digital payments platform has over 175 million registered users in the country.
"We believe the MSME sector is the core engine of the Indian economy and there is a need to create compelling solutions for MSMEs to thrive," he added.
PhonePe is accepted as a payment option across 80 lakh MSMEs in over 215 cities in India and over 56 per cent of its transactions are now driven by users in Tier II and III cities.
This year, PhonePe introduced new use cases to make a customer's experience on its platform more seamless and convenient including 'Switch', which does away with the need for downloading multiple apps.
Switch allows customers to seamlessly switch between PhonePe and their favourite food, grocery, shopping and travel apps from within the PhonePe app, with just a single tap.
The digital platform also has over 150 million bank accounts linked on its platform. It also has over 56 million saved credit and debit cards on its platform.
PhonePe is accepted at more than 80 lakh merchant outlets.
(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
Cashless Economy: PhonePe Crosses 5 Billion Transactions, Witness 5 Times Growth In One Year
by IANS - Dec 14 2019, 10:54 am
PhonePe app. (@Adani_Elec_Mum/image via twitter)
Digital payments platform PhonePe on Friday (13 December) announced that it has crossed 5 billion transactions on its app.
Bengaluru headquartered PhonePe crossed the one-billion transaction milestone in November last year and has grown a phenomenal 5 times in just one year, the company said in a statement.
"Our journey over the last 4 years has been incredible, not just in terms of the growth of the platform, but also in realizing the social impact that payments and financial services can create," said Sameer Nigam, Founder and CEO, PhonePe.
The digital payments platform has over 175 million registered users in the country.
"We believe the MSME sector is the core engine of the Indian economy and there is a need to create compelling solutions for MSMEs to thrive," he added.
PhonePe is accepted as a payment option across 80 lakh MSMEs in over 215 cities in India and over 56 per cent of its transactions are now driven by users in Tier II and III cities.
This year, PhonePe introduced new use cases to make a customer's experience on its platform more seamless and convenient including 'Switch', which does away with the need for downloading multiple apps.
Switch allows customers to seamlessly switch between PhonePe and their favourite food, grocery, shopping and travel apps from within the PhonePe app, with just a single tap.
The digital platform also has over 150 million bank accounts linked on its platform. It also has over 56 million saved credit and debit cards on its platform.
PhonePe is accepted at more than 80 lakh merchant outlets.
(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
Cashless Economy: PhonePe Crosses 5 Billion Transactions, Witness 5 Times Growth In One Year
According to Google, UPI was thoughtfully planned and critical aspects of its design led to its success
IANS | Updated: Dec 15, 2019, 06.31 AM IST
File photo. According to a recent study, digital payments in India will more than double to $135.2 billion in 2023 from $64.8 billion this year with a compounded annual growth of 20.2%.
NEW DELHI : In a thumbs up to the Indian government's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) scheme, Google has written to the US Federal Reserve Board detailing the successful example of UPI-based digital payment in India in order to build "FedNow" -- a new interbank real-time gross settlement service (RTGS) for faster digital payments in the US.
In a letter written by Mark Isakowitz, Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy, US and Canada, Google, the company said it worked closely with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the payment regulator government by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to build 'Google Pay' for the Indian market.
NPCI deployed a real-time payment system UPI in 2016.
According to Google, UPI was thoughtfully planned and critical aspects of its design led to its success.
"First, UPI is an interbank transfer system (there are now over over 140 member banks, after initially launching with 9 participating banks). Second, it is a real time system. Third, it is 'open' -- meaning technology companies can build applications that help users directly manage transfers into and out of their accounts held at banks," Isakowitz wrote to Ann Misback, Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Adoption of the system was rapid, growing from 100,000 monthly transactions, to 77 million, to 480 million, to 1.15 billion monthly transactions in the first four years.
"After just three years, the annual run rate of transactions flowing through UPI is about 10 per cent of India's GDP, including 800 million monthly transactions valued at $19 billion," said the company in the letter dated November 7 that was surfaced on Saturday.
"Google has been a successful market participant in India's use of UPI, and Google Pay provides one of the three leading mobile applications that use UPI, as measured by transaction volume," the letter elaborated.
Google said the use of debit, credit and pre-paid cards also nearly doubled during the same period.
Google Pay's monthly active user-base grew three times to reach 67 million in September this year -- up from 22 million in the same month last year.
According to a latest Worldline report tiled "India Digital Payments Report - Q3 2019", the total volume of UPI transactions in Q3 2019 in India touched 2.7 billion, a whopping 183 per cent increase from the same July-September quarter a year ago. In terms of value, UPI clocked Rs 4.6 trillion, up 189 per cent from Q3 2018.
The number of transactions done on mobile wallets was 1.04 billion, an increase of just 5 per cent over previous year period while the value of transactions in the July-September period was Rs 466 billion, an increase of 2 per cent over Q3 of the previous year, said the Worldline report.
According to a recent Assocham-PWC study, digital payments in India will more than double to $135.2 billion in 2023 from $64.8 billion this year with a compounded annual growth of 20.2%.
Google said that after learning its lessons from the India digital payments market, it offers specific suggestions to the Fed Reserve to "support real-time low-value and high-value payments, use standardized messaging protocols with extended metadata, and provide clear standards for an Application Programming Interface (API) layer that enables licensed non-financial institution third parties to access and submit requests into this payment system".
Google wants US Federal Reserve to follow India's UPI example
IANS | Updated: Dec 15, 2019, 06.31 AM IST
File photo. According to a recent study, digital payments in India will more than double to $135.2 billion in 2023 from $64.8 billion this year with a compounded annual growth of 20.2%.
NEW DELHI : In a thumbs up to the Indian government's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) scheme, Google has written to the US Federal Reserve Board detailing the successful example of UPI-based digital payment in India in order to build "FedNow" -- a new interbank real-time gross settlement service (RTGS) for faster digital payments in the US.
In a letter written by Mark Isakowitz, Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy, US and Canada, Google, the company said it worked closely with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the payment regulator government by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to build 'Google Pay' for the Indian market.
NPCI deployed a real-time payment system UPI in 2016.
According to Google, UPI was thoughtfully planned and critical aspects of its design led to its success.
"First, UPI is an interbank transfer system (there are now over over 140 member banks, after initially launching with 9 participating banks). Second, it is a real time system. Third, it is 'open' -- meaning technology companies can build applications that help users directly manage transfers into and out of their accounts held at banks," Isakowitz wrote to Ann Misback, Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Adoption of the system was rapid, growing from 100,000 monthly transactions, to 77 million, to 480 million, to 1.15 billion monthly transactions in the first four years.
"After just three years, the annual run rate of transactions flowing through UPI is about 10 per cent of India's GDP, including 800 million monthly transactions valued at $19 billion," said the company in the letter dated November 7 that was surfaced on Saturday.
"Google has been a successful market participant in India's use of UPI, and Google Pay provides one of the three leading mobile applications that use UPI, as measured by transaction volume," the letter elaborated.
Google said the use of debit, credit and pre-paid cards also nearly doubled during the same period.
Google Pay's monthly active user-base grew three times to reach 67 million in September this year -- up from 22 million in the same month last year.
According to a latest Worldline report tiled "India Digital Payments Report - Q3 2019", the total volume of UPI transactions in Q3 2019 in India touched 2.7 billion, a whopping 183 per cent increase from the same July-September quarter a year ago. In terms of value, UPI clocked Rs 4.6 trillion, up 189 per cent from Q3 2018.
The number of transactions done on mobile wallets was 1.04 billion, an increase of just 5 per cent over previous year period while the value of transactions in the July-September period was Rs 466 billion, an increase of 2 per cent over Q3 of the previous year, said the Worldline report.
According to a recent Assocham-PWC study, digital payments in India will more than double to $135.2 billion in 2023 from $64.8 billion this year with a compounded annual growth of 20.2%.
Google said that after learning its lessons from the India digital payments market, it offers specific suggestions to the Fed Reserve to "support real-time low-value and high-value payments, use standardized messaging protocols with extended metadata, and provide clear standards for an Application Programming Interface (API) layer that enables licensed non-financial institution third parties to access and submit requests into this payment system".
Google wants US Federal Reserve to follow India's UPI example
Google wants US Federal Reserve to follow India's UPI example
NEW DELHI: In a thumbs up to the Indian government's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) scheme, Google has written to the US Federal Reserve Board detailing the successful example of UPI-based digital payment in India in order to build "FedNow" -- a new interbank real-time gross settlement service (RTGS) for faster digital payments in the US.
In a letter written by Mark Isakowitz, Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy, US and Canada, Google, the company said it worked closely with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the payment regulator government by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to build 'Google Pay' for the Indian market.
NPCI deployed a real-time payment system UPI in 2016.
According to Google, UPI was thoughtfully planned and critical aspects of its design led to its success.
"First, UPI is an interbank transfer system (there are now over over 140 member banks, after initially launching with 9 participating banks). Second, it is a real time system. Third, it is 'open' -- meaning technology companies can build applications that help users directly manage transfers into and out of their accounts held at banks," Isakowitz wrote to Ann Misback, Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Adoption of the system was rapid, growing from 100,000 monthly transactions, to 77 million, to 480 million, to 1.15 billion monthly transactions in the first four years.
"After just three years, the annual run rate of transactions flowing through UPI is about 10 per cent of India's GDP, including 800 million monthly transactions valued at $19 billion," said the company in the letter dated November 7 that was surfaced on Saturday.
"Google has been a successful market participant in India's use of UPI, and Google Pay provides one of the three leading mobile applications that use UPI, as measured by transaction volume," the letter elaborated.
Google said the use of debit, credit and pre-paid cards also nearly doubled during the same period.
Google Pay's monthly active user-base grew three times to reach 67 million in September this year -- up from 22 million in the same month last year.
According to a latest Worldline report tiled "India Digital Payments Report - Q3 2019", the total volume of UPI transactions in Q3 2019 in India touched 2.7 billion, a whopping 183 per cent increase from the same July-September quarter a year ago. In terms of value, UPI clocked Rs 4.6 trillion, up 189 per cent from Q3 2018.
The number of transactions done on mobile wallets was 1.04 billion, an increase of just 5 per cent over previous year period while the value of transactions in the July-September period was Rs 466 billion, an increase of 2 per cent over Q3 of the previous year, said the Worldline report.
According to a recent Assocham-PWC study, digital payments in India will more than double to $135.2 billion in 2023 from $64.8 billion this year with a compounded annual growth of 20.2%.
Google said that after learning its lessons from the India digital payments market, it offers specific suggestions to the Fed Reserve to "support real-time low-value and high-value payments, use standardized messaging protocols with extended metadata, and provide clear standards for an Application Programming Interface (API) layer that enables licensed non-financial institution third parties to access and submit requests into this payment system".
NEW DELHI: In a thumbs up to the Indian government's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) scheme, Google has written to the US Federal Reserve Board detailing the successful example of UPI-based digital payment in India in order to build "FedNow" -- a new interbank real-time gross settlement service (RTGS) for faster digital payments in the US.
In a letter written by Mark Isakowitz, Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy, US and Canada, Google, the company said it worked closely with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the payment regulator government by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to build 'Google Pay' for the Indian market.
NPCI deployed a real-time payment system UPI in 2016.
According to Google, UPI was thoughtfully planned and critical aspects of its design led to its success.
"First, UPI is an interbank transfer system (there are now over over 140 member banks, after initially launching with 9 participating banks). Second, it is a real time system. Third, it is 'open' -- meaning technology companies can build applications that help users directly manage transfers into and out of their accounts held at banks," Isakowitz wrote to Ann Misback, Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Adoption of the system was rapid, growing from 100,000 monthly transactions, to 77 million, to 480 million, to 1.15 billion monthly transactions in the first four years.
"After just three years, the annual run rate of transactions flowing through UPI is about 10 per cent of India's GDP, including 800 million monthly transactions valued at $19 billion," said the company in the letter dated November 7 that was surfaced on Saturday.
"Google has been a successful market participant in India's use of UPI, and Google Pay provides one of the three leading mobile applications that use UPI, as measured by transaction volume," the letter elaborated.
Google said the use of debit, credit and pre-paid cards also nearly doubled during the same period.
Google Pay's monthly active user-base grew three times to reach 67 million in September this year -- up from 22 million in the same month last year.
According to a latest Worldline report tiled "India Digital Payments Report - Q3 2019", the total volume of UPI transactions in Q3 2019 in India touched 2.7 billion, a whopping 183 per cent increase from the same July-September quarter a year ago. In terms of value, UPI clocked Rs 4.6 trillion, up 189 per cent from Q3 2018.
The number of transactions done on mobile wallets was 1.04 billion, an increase of just 5 per cent over previous year period while the value of transactions in the July-September period was Rs 466 billion, an increase of 2 per cent over Q3 of the previous year, said the Worldline report.
According to a recent Assocham-PWC study, digital payments in India will more than double to $135.2 billion in 2023 from $64.8 billion this year with a compounded annual growth of 20.2%.
Google said that after learning its lessons from the India digital payments market, it offers specific suggestions to the Fed Reserve to "support real-time low-value and high-value payments, use standardized messaging protocols with extended metadata, and provide clear standards for an Application Programming Interface (API) layer that enables licensed non-financial institution third parties to access and submit requests into this payment system".
Government testing GIMs, its secure messaging app
GIMS is being packaged for employees of Central and state government departments and organisations for intra and inter organisation communications.
Written by Anil Sasi | New Delhi | Updated: December 16, 2019 7:23:23 am
GIMS is being packaged for employees of Central and state government departments and organisations for intra and inter organisation communications. (Representational)
The government is testing a prototype of an Indian equivalent of popular messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, for secure internal use. Codenamed GIMS or Government Instant Messaging System, the platform is in the pilot testing stage across some states, including Odisha — and is learnt to have been released to the Indian Navy to be tried out on trial basis.
Designed and developed by the Kerala unit of National Informatics Centre (NIC), GIMS is being packaged for employees of Central and state government departments and organisations for intra and inter organisation communications.
It is being developed as a secure Indian alternative without the security concerns attached with apps hosted abroad or those owned by foreign entities. Like WhatsApp, GIMS employs end-to-end encryption for one-to-one messaging.
The launch of the new app comes amid the recent controversy over the WhatsApp breach after The Indian Express first reported that some Indian users’ mobile devices were targeted through a spyware called Pegasus.
GIMS is being touted as a safer bet as the platform has been developed in India, the server hosting it is installed within the country and the information stored would be in government-based cloud — NIC-operated data centres that are only meant for captive use by the government and its departments.
The trial started with NIC employees using it internally, before expanding it to some central government agencies, including the finance department of Odisha and the Navy.
A GIMS Portal is also being simultaneously developed for administration and monitoring of the platform, government officials said.
The platform is adaptable to both central and state government organisations, with an iOS version of GIMS released for trial in the first week of September 2019, compatible with iOS Version 11 and above, and an Android version that works with Kitkat (Android 4.4.4) and above.
Sources said the Odisha Finance Department had cleared plans to use GIMS in the department on pilot basis. State officials are learnt to have been asked to install GIMS and start using it since end-September, and NIC is learnt to have formed a group of all Finance department officials of the state so that group interactions can be tested.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been the default instant messaging platform among a majority of government departments and organisations. But tax department officers and those with enforcement agencies are reported to be more inclined to use Telegram (London-headquartered cloud-based instant messaging and voice over IP service), and now increasingly Signal (the Mountain View, California-headquartered cross-platform encrypted messaging service).
Besides one-to-one messaging and group messaging, there are specific provisions in GIMS for documents and media sharing in keeping with the hierarchies in the government system.
According to WhatsApp, the Pegasus spyware was developed by Israel-based NSO Group and it attempted to breach mobile phones of a possible 1,400 users globally, including 121 from India.
Based on reports on alleged snooping of mobile devices of Indian citizens through WhatsApp using Pegasus, CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) has said it had sought submission of relevant details and information from WhatsApp and NSO group.
Government testing GIMs, its secure messaging app
GIMS is being packaged for employees of Central and state government departments and organisations for intra and inter organisation communications.
Written by Anil Sasi | New Delhi | Updated: December 16, 2019 7:23:23 am
GIMS is being packaged for employees of Central and state government departments and organisations for intra and inter organisation communications. (Representational)
The government is testing a prototype of an Indian equivalent of popular messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, for secure internal use. Codenamed GIMS or Government Instant Messaging System, the platform is in the pilot testing stage across some states, including Odisha — and is learnt to have been released to the Indian Navy to be tried out on trial basis.
Designed and developed by the Kerala unit of National Informatics Centre (NIC), GIMS is being packaged for employees of Central and state government departments and organisations for intra and inter organisation communications.
It is being developed as a secure Indian alternative without the security concerns attached with apps hosted abroad or those owned by foreign entities. Like WhatsApp, GIMS employs end-to-end encryption for one-to-one messaging.
The launch of the new app comes amid the recent controversy over the WhatsApp breach after The Indian Express first reported that some Indian users’ mobile devices were targeted through a spyware called Pegasus.
GIMS is being touted as a safer bet as the platform has been developed in India, the server hosting it is installed within the country and the information stored would be in government-based cloud — NIC-operated data centres that are only meant for captive use by the government and its departments.
The trial started with NIC employees using it internally, before expanding it to some central government agencies, including the finance department of Odisha and the Navy.
A GIMS Portal is also being simultaneously developed for administration and monitoring of the platform, government officials said.
The platform is adaptable to both central and state government organisations, with an iOS version of GIMS released for trial in the first week of September 2019, compatible with iOS Version 11 and above, and an Android version that works with Kitkat (Android 4.4.4) and above.
Sources said the Odisha Finance Department had cleared plans to use GIMS in the department on pilot basis. State officials are learnt to have been asked to install GIMS and start using it since end-September, and NIC is learnt to have formed a group of all Finance department officials of the state so that group interactions can be tested.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been the default instant messaging platform among a majority of government departments and organisations. But tax department officers and those with enforcement agencies are reported to be more inclined to use Telegram (London-headquartered cloud-based instant messaging and voice over IP service), and now increasingly Signal (the Mountain View, California-headquartered cross-platform encrypted messaging service).
Besides one-to-one messaging and group messaging, there are specific provisions in GIMS for documents and media sharing in keeping with the hierarchies in the government system.
According to WhatsApp, the Pegasus spyware was developed by Israel-based NSO Group and it attempted to breach mobile phones of a possible 1,400 users globally, including 121 from India.
Based on reports on alleged snooping of mobile devices of Indian citizens through WhatsApp using Pegasus, CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) has said it had sought submission of relevant details and information from WhatsApp and NSO group.
Government testing GIMs, its secure messaging app
Use RuPay Card, get up to Rs 16,000 cashback for international usage
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has rolled out a substantial cashback incentive for RuPay International Card users. According to the NCPI release reported by the Economic Times (ET), Indians travelling to the UAE, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the UK, the US, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand can now get back up to Rs 16,000 cashback per month by getting their RuPay International Card activated.
With RuPay International cards --JCB, Discover and Diners Club--customers using multiple cards can earn more cashbacks under the 'RuPay Travel Tales' campaign. Customers will have to do a minimum transaction of Rs 1,000 to be eligible for earning cashback. The maximum cashback is capped at Rs 4,000 for a single transaction. The offer is available for customers using the card four times a month and that can give them a chance of earning up to Rs 16,000 as cashback.
Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI said, "We always aim to create an end-to-end value proposition for RuPay International cardholders to make their overseas travel experience seamless and memorable. The campaign is not only providing an exciting platform for travelers to earn cashbacks but also motivating them to migrate towards digital transactions nationally and globally". Apart from earning cashbacks, RuPay International cardholders can access to RuPay affiliated domestic/international airport lounges.
The NCPI release added that they also can avail attractive offers on booking international fights and hotels in association with Thomas Cook and Make My Trip. RuPay has tied up with Discover Financial Services (DFS) and Japan based JCB International, which allows RuPay users the access across 190 countries. Currently, there are over 1,100 banks live on RuPay platform including SBI, HDFC Bank, Axis bank, among others.
The NCPI shared that RuPay card base has crossed 600 million, half of which are in the mid and premium segments. The NPCI was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
An initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, NPCI was started for creating a robust payment and settlement infrastructure in the country.
Use RuPay Card, get up to Rs 16,000 cashback for international usage
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has rolled out a substantial cashback incentive for RuPay International Card users. According to the NCPI release reported by the Economic Times (ET), Indians travelling to the UAE, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the UK, the US, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand can now get back up to Rs 16,000 cashback per month by getting their RuPay International Card activated.
With RuPay International cards --JCB, Discover and Diners Club--customers using multiple cards can earn more cashbacks under the 'RuPay Travel Tales' campaign. Customers will have to do a minimum transaction of Rs 1,000 to be eligible for earning cashback. The maximum cashback is capped at Rs 4,000 for a single transaction. The offer is available for customers using the card four times a month and that can give them a chance of earning up to Rs 16,000 as cashback.
Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI said, "We always aim to create an end-to-end value proposition for RuPay International cardholders to make their overseas travel experience seamless and memorable. The campaign is not only providing an exciting platform for travelers to earn cashbacks but also motivating them to migrate towards digital transactions nationally and globally". Apart from earning cashbacks, RuPay International cardholders can access to RuPay affiliated domestic/international airport lounges.
The NCPI release added that they also can avail attractive offers on booking international fights and hotels in association with Thomas Cook and Make My Trip. RuPay has tied up with Discover Financial Services (DFS) and Japan based JCB International, which allows RuPay users the access across 190 countries. Currently, there are over 1,100 banks live on RuPay platform including SBI, HDFC Bank, Axis bank, among others.
The NCPI shared that RuPay card base has crossed 600 million, half of which are in the mid and premium segments. The NPCI was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
An initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, NPCI was started for creating a robust payment and settlement infrastructure in the country.
Use RuPay Card, get up to Rs 16,000 cashback for international usage
Paytm targets merchants to fight back Google and Walmart in India’s crowded payments field
Manish Singh, 1:05 am IST • January 9, 2020
Image Credits: Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty Images
Paytm today announced two new features for businesses as the financial services firm looks to expand its reach in the nation that has quickly become one of the world’s most crowded and competitive payments markets.
The Noida-headquartered firm, which raised $1 billion in late November, said its app for businesses now features an “all-in-one” QR code system to accept payments from multiple platforms, including mobile wallets (that act as an intermediary between a user and their bank but provide convenience) and those that are powered by UPI, a payments infrastructure built by a coalition of banks that has been widely adopted by the industry players.
Merchants had expressed an interest in having one QR code that could understand any payments app, said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder and chief executive of Paytm’s parent firm One97 Communications. In addition to supporting mobile wallet apps, and UPI-powered payment apps, Paytm’s new QR codes also support payments through popular Rupay cards. “I am sure this QR will accelerate the Digital India mission and make more financial services available to the underserved,” he said.
Merchants can also stick these QR codes on devices such as battery packs and chargers to enable quick transaction from users, Sharma explained at a press conference today.
Bookkeeping for merchants and small businesses
The nation’s highest-valued startup (at around $16 billion) also announced a bookkeeping feature for businesses to help them maintain their daily records. The feature is already rolling out to merchants, Sharma told TechCrunch.
Dubbed Paytm Business Khata, the feature will help merchants manage payments, record transactions and secure loans and insurance. The service will also enable them to set a reminder for credit transactions, receive an audio alert for new transactions, and send links to their customers to easily pay their dues, said Sharma.
Hundreds of millions of Indians, many in small towns and villages, came online for the first time in the last decade thanks to the proliferation of cheap Android smartphones and the availability of some of the world’s cheapest mobile data plans.
In recent years, millions of merchants and small businesses have also started to accept digital payments and listed them on the web for the first time. But most of them are still offline. Scores of startups and heavily backed firms such as Google, Walmart and Amazon are chasing this untapped market.
Google, which has amassed more than 67 million users on its payments app in India, last year announced a range of offerings to allow businesses to easily start accepting payments online. In the past, the company also launched tools to help mom and pop stores build presence on the web.
A number of startups today, including Bangalore-based Instamojo, Khatabook (which raised $25 million in October last year and counts GGV Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Tencent among its investors) and Lightspeed-backed OkCredit, which raised $67 million in August last year, offer bookkeeping features and allow their consumers to enable easier payment options.
Google Pay or GPay sticker pasted on the glass of a car in New Delhi India on 18 September 2019 (Photo by Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Paytm’s Sharma claimed that his business app has already amassed more than 10 million merchant users, a number he expects to more than double by next year.
The announcements today illustrate how aggressively Paytm, which once led the mobile payments market in India, is expanding its service.
Some critics have cautioned that the firm, which counts SoftBank, Alibaba and T. Rowe Price among its key investors and has raised over $3.3 billion to date, is quickly losing its market share and chasing opportunities that could significantly increase its expenses and losses. According to several industry estimates, Google Pay and Walmart’s PhonePe now lead the mobile payments market in India.
Paytm lost more than half a billion dollars in the financial year that ended in March 2019. The trouble for the company is that there is currently little money to be made in the payments market because of some of the local guidelines set by the government.
“The current Paytm’s potential is a pale shadow of its former self. And to stay relevant, the company is entering new businesses (and failing spectacularly in some) at a pace that shows both a lack of clarity and urgency. Paytm is stuck between a glorious past that was built on the back of digital payments and a future that doesn’t look anything like Jack Ma’s Alibaba, one of Paytm’s largest investors and Sharma’s inspiration,” wrote Ashish Mishra, a long-time journalist, in a scathing post (paywalled).
Sharma said today that the company plans to offer services such as stock brokerage and insurance brokerage in the coming months.
At stake is India’s payments market that is estimated to be worth $1 trillion in the next four years, up from about $200 billion currently, according to Credit Suisse. And that market is only going to get more crowded when WhatsApp, which has amassed over 400 million users in India, rolls out its payments service to all its users in the country in the coming months.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/08/p...and-walmart-in-indias-crowded-payments-field/
Manish Singh, 1:05 am IST • January 9, 2020
Image Credits: Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty Images
Paytm today announced two new features for businesses as the financial services firm looks to expand its reach in the nation that has quickly become one of the world’s most crowded and competitive payments markets.
The Noida-headquartered firm, which raised $1 billion in late November, said its app for businesses now features an “all-in-one” QR code system to accept payments from multiple platforms, including mobile wallets (that act as an intermediary between a user and their bank but provide convenience) and those that are powered by UPI, a payments infrastructure built by a coalition of banks that has been widely adopted by the industry players.
Merchants had expressed an interest in having one QR code that could understand any payments app, said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder and chief executive of Paytm’s parent firm One97 Communications. In addition to supporting mobile wallet apps, and UPI-powered payment apps, Paytm’s new QR codes also support payments through popular Rupay cards. “I am sure this QR will accelerate the Digital India mission and make more financial services available to the underserved,” he said.
Merchants can also stick these QR codes on devices such as battery packs and chargers to enable quick transaction from users, Sharma explained at a press conference today.
Bookkeeping for merchants and small businesses
The nation’s highest-valued startup (at around $16 billion) also announced a bookkeeping feature for businesses to help them maintain their daily records. The feature is already rolling out to merchants, Sharma told TechCrunch.
Dubbed Paytm Business Khata, the feature will help merchants manage payments, record transactions and secure loans and insurance. The service will also enable them to set a reminder for credit transactions, receive an audio alert for new transactions, and send links to their customers to easily pay their dues, said Sharma.
Hundreds of millions of Indians, many in small towns and villages, came online for the first time in the last decade thanks to the proliferation of cheap Android smartphones and the availability of some of the world’s cheapest mobile data plans.
In recent years, millions of merchants and small businesses have also started to accept digital payments and listed them on the web for the first time. But most of them are still offline. Scores of startups and heavily backed firms such as Google, Walmart and Amazon are chasing this untapped market.
Google, which has amassed more than 67 million users on its payments app in India, last year announced a range of offerings to allow businesses to easily start accepting payments online. In the past, the company also launched tools to help mom and pop stores build presence on the web.
A number of startups today, including Bangalore-based Instamojo, Khatabook (which raised $25 million in October last year and counts GGV Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Tencent among its investors) and Lightspeed-backed OkCredit, which raised $67 million in August last year, offer bookkeeping features and allow their consumers to enable easier payment options.
Google Pay or GPay sticker pasted on the glass of a car in New Delhi India on 18 September 2019 (Photo by Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Paytm’s Sharma claimed that his business app has already amassed more than 10 million merchant users, a number he expects to more than double by next year.
The announcements today illustrate how aggressively Paytm, which once led the mobile payments market in India, is expanding its service.
Some critics have cautioned that the firm, which counts SoftBank, Alibaba and T. Rowe Price among its key investors and has raised over $3.3 billion to date, is quickly losing its market share and chasing opportunities that could significantly increase its expenses and losses. According to several industry estimates, Google Pay and Walmart’s PhonePe now lead the mobile payments market in India.
Paytm lost more than half a billion dollars in the financial year that ended in March 2019. The trouble for the company is that there is currently little money to be made in the payments market because of some of the local guidelines set by the government.
“The current Paytm’s potential is a pale shadow of its former self. And to stay relevant, the company is entering new businesses (and failing spectacularly in some) at a pace that shows both a lack of clarity and urgency. Paytm is stuck between a glorious past that was built on the back of digital payments and a future that doesn’t look anything like Jack Ma’s Alibaba, one of Paytm’s largest investors and Sharma’s inspiration,” wrote Ashish Mishra, a long-time journalist, in a scathing post (paywalled).
Sharma said today that the company plans to offer services such as stock brokerage and insurance brokerage in the coming months.
At stake is India’s payments market that is estimated to be worth $1 trillion in the next four years, up from about $200 billion currently, according to Credit Suisse. And that market is only going to get more crowded when WhatsApp, which has amassed over 400 million users in India, rolls out its payments service to all its users in the country in the coming months.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/08/p...and-walmart-in-indias-crowded-payments-field/
Japan’s mobile payments app PayPay reaches 10 million users
Manish Singh; 2:37 pm IST • August 8, 2019
Image Credits: Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty Images
Paytm, India’s biggest mobile payments firm, now has 10 million customers in Japan, the company said as it pushes to expand its reach in international markets. Paytm entered Japan last October after forming a joint venture with SoftBank and Yahoo Japan called PayPay.
In addition to 10 million users, PayPay is now supported by 1 million merchant partners and local stores in Japan, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm said Thursday. The mobile payments app has clocked more than 100 million transactions to date in the nation, he claimed. In June, PayPay had 8 million users.
“Thank you India for your inspiration and giving us chance to build world class tech…,” he posted in a tweet.
Like in India, cash also dominates much of the daily transactions in Japan. Large medical clinics and supermarkets often refuse to accept plastic cards and instead ask for cash. This encouraged Paytm, which also has presence in Canada, to explore the Japanese market.
And it has the experience, capital and tech chops to achieve it. The mobile payments app has amassed more than 250 million registered users in India. Most of these customers signed up after the Indian government invalidated much of the cash in the nation in late 2016.
PayPay competes with a handful of local players in Japan. Its biggest competition is Line, an instant messaging app that has followed China’s WeChat model to aggressively expand its offerings in recent years.
Like PayPay, Line also has no shortage of money. Earlier this year, it announced a ¥30 billion ($282 million) reward campaign to boost usage of its payments service. Line has more than 80 million users in Japan, 32 million of whom used its payments service as of February this year. There are about 120 million internet users in Japan.
PayPay maintains a ¥10 billion ($94 million) marketing campaign of its own, as part of which customers who make a certain number of transactions and participate in referral programs earn some money. In a statement, PayPay said Thursday that moving forward it “will strive to create a society where people can buy anything through cashless payments in every corner of the country with a safe and secured service for our users.”
https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/08/paypay-10m-users/
Manish Singh; 2:37 pm IST • August 8, 2019
Image Credits: Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty Images
Paytm, India’s biggest mobile payments firm, now has 10 million customers in Japan, the company said as it pushes to expand its reach in international markets. Paytm entered Japan last October after forming a joint venture with SoftBank and Yahoo Japan called PayPay.
In addition to 10 million users, PayPay is now supported by 1 million merchant partners and local stores in Japan, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm said Thursday. The mobile payments app has clocked more than 100 million transactions to date in the nation, he claimed. In June, PayPay had 8 million users.
“Thank you India for your inspiration and giving us chance to build world class tech…,” he posted in a tweet.
Like in India, cash also dominates much of the daily transactions in Japan. Large medical clinics and supermarkets often refuse to accept plastic cards and instead ask for cash. This encouraged Paytm, which also has presence in Canada, to explore the Japanese market.
And it has the experience, capital and tech chops to achieve it. The mobile payments app has amassed more than 250 million registered users in India. Most of these customers signed up after the Indian government invalidated much of the cash in the nation in late 2016.
PayPay competes with a handful of local players in Japan. Its biggest competition is Line, an instant messaging app that has followed China’s WeChat model to aggressively expand its offerings in recent years.
Like PayPay, Line also has no shortage of money. Earlier this year, it announced a ¥30 billion ($282 million) reward campaign to boost usage of its payments service. Line has more than 80 million users in Japan, 32 million of whom used its payments service as of February this year. There are about 120 million internet users in Japan.
PayPay maintains a ¥10 billion ($94 million) marketing campaign of its own, as part of which customers who make a certain number of transactions and participate in referral programs earn some money. In a statement, PayPay said Thursday that moving forward it “will strive to create a society where people can buy anything through cashless payments in every corner of the country with a safe and secured service for our users.”
https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/08/paypay-10m-users/