Monday, March 18

Tag: Digital India

Reliance Retail to acquire 40.95% stake in Just Dial
ACQUISITION

Reliance Retail to acquire 40.95% stake in Just Dial

Mumbai, Jul 18th, 2021: Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) will acquire a 40.95 percent stake in Just Dial for around $500 million to bolstering its digital services in India. Reliance investment in Just Dial is part of the conglomerate’s digital bet. Over the past many quarters, Reliance has announced a number of investments in companies like Netmeds, Urban Ladder, and others. RRVL the retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd will also make a public announcement for an open offer for acquiring up to 2.17 crore equity shares of Just Dial (representing 26 percent share in the company), in accordance with Sebi Takeover Regulations, a regulatory filing said. Just Dial founder VSS Mani will continue as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer to lead the company through the next p...
Digital Transaction in India Grows 55% in 5 years to FY20
INDIA

Digital Transaction in India Grows 55% in 5 years to FY20

Concerted efforts by the Indian Reserve Bank to move to a non/less-cash economy by pushing digital payments have begun to pay rich dividends as the volume of such payments has jumped manifold in the past five years, the latest data from the Indian central bank showed. Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, digital payments have grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 55.1 percent from 593.61 crores in the year to March 2016 to 3,434.56 crore in the year to March 2020. In absolute terms, value has grown from Rs 920.38 lakh crore to Rs 1,623.05 lakh crore during this period, clipping at an annual compounded rate of 15.2 percent. Giving year-wise data, in 2016-17 digital payments jumped to 969.12 crores from 593.61 crores in the previous year in volume terms, while in value the same rose ...
Survey: This is What Indians Do Online & Offline
ANALYSIS

Survey: This is What Indians Do Online & Offline

India is a fast evolving and developing country with ever-more resources and capital being poured into the Indian web market to digitalize the country. A particular tool that has allowed this digital development has been the introduction of cheap and reliable smartphones in the market which allowed a large portion of the country to afford the technology. Additionally, cheap internet plans contributed significantly to encouraging and increasing the overall internet usage. Consequently, diverse facilities and services emerged from phone apps, allowing users to buy, sell, order and enjoy different types of facilities and services from electronic shopping, to cab hailing, food delivery and more. Presently, India stands among the most internet-friendly ecosystems in the world and the scale a...
How Vizag City Will Become Capital of Blockchain
Tech

How Vizag City Will Become Capital of Blockchain

Recently India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was surprisingly full of praise towards blockchain’s development potential and was critical about the need for “rapid adaptation” to this technology. While Governments are usually skeptical about Cryptocurrency, the transparency that blockchain technology offers will surely be beneficial in India which is a victim of 69% bribery rate and was ranked most corrupted nation in Asia in 2017. Loan frauds systematically reach $2 billion every year, resulting in usual increase in interest rates on business loans by up to 20%. According to investopedia, "A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions. Constantly growing as ‘completed’ blocks (the most recent transactions) are recorded and added to it in c...
Paytm UPI Transaction Acquire 40% of Market Share
News

Paytm UPI Transaction Acquire 40% of Market Share

Despite February being the shortest of the month, UPI (Unified Payments Interface) has seen a massive rise in the use of service. Indeed, in India alone, 170 million transactions has been made across the multiple mobile payment platforms available. UPI allows individuals to perform instant money transfer across different banks through their mobile phones. Paytm claims to be the highest contributor to the rising amount of UPI transaction in the country with over 6.8 Cr transactions in the month of February alone, the company announced in a note. As such, the Indian mobile wallet application claims the most shares of this new market with over 40% users utilizing this interface. “We have the largest share of UPI transactions within three months of launch,” said Deepak Abbot, senior vice-pr...
Digital Payments in India to touch $1 Trillion by 2023
News

Digital Payments in India to touch $1 Trillion by 2023

After Paytm, Google Tez, Hike and PhonePe like platforms that provide online peer to peer transactions and more, have rolled out, millions of users have moved to electronic payment interface thus expanding the Digital Payment Space. But what is expected to make Digital Payments in India to progress to $1 trillion from $51,756 million (2018) by 2023, is the entry of global players in the country's automated space, as mentioned by investment banking firm Credit Suisse in a report. "Digital payments (in India) currently aggregate less than USD 200 billion, of which mobile is still at just USD 10 billion in financial year (FY) 2018 E (estimated) . We estimate that the total digital payment market in India will grow to USD 1 trillion by FY23E led by the growth in mobile payments," the repor...
Indian Government Will Bear Merchant Charges On Debit Cards To Promote Digital Transactions
INDIA

Indian Government Will Bear Merchant Charges On Debit Cards To Promote Digital Transactions

Indian government is trying to encourage small shopkeepers to accept electronic payments, by bearing the merchant charges, that one needs to pay to the banks, on purchases of up to Rs 2,000 starting January 1, 2018. The subsidy will be provided to the small shop owners who now need to pay a fees to the banks for transactions through Debit cards, BHIM or Aadhaar. In India, where the average debit transaction value is just Rs 1,500, accepting debit cards for payments will become as cheap as accepting cards for small merchants. This news was announced by IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, saying that government is implementing measures to accelerate digital payments in the country. Also a committee of secretaries has been set-up to ensure that no misuse of subsidy occurs and that benefits...
LIC Follows Digital India Path, Agents Will Get PoS Machine For Premium Collection
INDIA, News

LIC Follows Digital India Path, Agents Will Get PoS Machine For Premium Collection

In a big push to digital payment drive, LIC is planning to provide Point of Sale (PoS) machines to its lakhs of agents who collect around Rs 1.5 lakh crore premium annually. "As part of the strategy for the less cash economy, LIC is also gearing up for providing PoS machines to its few lakhs active agents initially so that premium collection can be done in digitally," a senior official said. The state-owned insurance behemoth is also looking at initiating Aadhaar-linked digital transactions, the official said, adding that this will help policy holders in the rural areas to avoid payment of premium in cash and cash handling burden of agents would come down significantly. To begin with, LIC plans to provide PoS machines to about 1.5 lakh agents that would be ramped up in the future,...
Govt Issues Notices to RJio, Paytm For Using PM Photo in Advts
News

Govt Issues Notices to RJio, Paytm For Using PM Photo in Advts

The government has slapped notices on billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm and Paytm for using the Prime Minister's photograph in their advertisements. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, which is custodian of prestige of High Offices like President and Prime Minister as well as historic figures, sent the notices under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act of 1950, which bars use of Prime Minister's name and picture for commercial use. "We have sent notices to both (the companies) for using PM's picture in their advertisement. We are yet to receive their response," Consumer Affairs Secretary Hem Pande told Pixr8. The Act provides for a nominal financial penalty for violations but more than the monetary fine holding guilty of for improper use o...
Indian PM Modi Led Cabinet Approved 2351 Crore For Digital Saksharta Abhiyan
INDIA, News

Indian PM Modi Led Cabinet Approved 2351 Crore For Digital Saksharta Abhiyan

The Cabinet today approved 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' with an outlay of Rs 2,351.38 crore to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate by March 2019. "The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' (PMGDISHA) to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate. The outlay for this project is Rs 2,351.38 crore to usher in digital literacy in rural India by March 2019," an official statement said. This is in line with the announcement made by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2017, it added. "PMGDISHA is expected to be one of the largest digital literacy programmes in the world," the statement said. Under the scheme, 25 lakh candidates will be trained in the fiscal year ...
Sundar Pichai Announced Google Digital Unloack Initiatives For Small, Medium Business
News

Sundar Pichai Announced Google Digital Unloack Initiatives For Small, Medium Business

Technology giant Google today announced a slew of initiatives, including a new app Primer and training modules under its My Business offering, as it looks to further tap the 51-million strong small and medium businesses (SMB) market in India. Making the announcements, Google's India-born CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is working on products for India that can be expanded globally. "When we solve for a place like India, we solve for everyone around the world. That has led us to grow our team here and spend more time and ensure the products are useful for everyone," he said. Google's My Business will help small businesses set up website from their mobile devices and all they need is a smart phone and a few minutes, he said. The company has also launched Digital Unlocked, an educati...
ICICI Launches Eazypay Mobile App For Merchants
News

ICICI Launches Eazypay Mobile App For Merchants

In what it claims to be a first in the country leading private sector lender ICICI Bank today launched 'Eazypay', an app for merchants, retailers and professionals to accept payments on mobiles from multiple digital modes. The Eazypay, based on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of the National Payment Corporation, allows a person to make payments through credit/debit cards and online banking, and also through the 'Pockets', which is the digital wallet of ICICI Bank, the bank said in a statement. Any current account holder of ICICI Bank can instantly download the Eazypay app and start using it, it said, adding the facility can also be used by non- ICICI Bank customers. The app is available on smartphones with Android operating systems now and will shortly be available on the iOS ...