Bharti Airtel raises $100 mn from Mastercard via Africa mobile money stake sale

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel said US-based payments processor Mastercard will invest $100 mln (Rs 730 cr) into its Africa mobile payments business. The announcement comes two weeks after TPG Group invested $200 mn in Airtel Money Africa. The latest agreement values Airtel Africa’s mobile money business at $2.65bn on a cash and debt free basis, […]

Paytm to set up 1,000 branded ATMs?

Paytm, India’s largest digital wallet player, is reportedly planning to set up 1,000 ATMs across the country under a branding tie-up with Tata Communications Payment Solutions Ltd. Although Tata Communications did not confirm the news, the network connectivity provider said it has a “co-branding alliance” with a “leading payments bank recognized as India’s largest digital […]

With Hitachi, SBI hopes to beat back competition from PayTM, PhonePe

State Bank of India and Hitachi Payment Services announced the start of operations of their payment processing venture in India as India’s largest bank tries to stay on top of the merchant-payment business. Hitachi took a 26% stake in SBI Payments in January for an undisclosed amount. SBI Payments was already India’s biggest merchant-enabler payment […]

Jaitley blames ‘sudden and unusual’ demand for cash crunch

Finance minister Arun Jaitley blamed a ‘sudden and unusual’ increase in the demand for cash for causing a scarcity in currency notes in some states. Commenting on the reports that banks are running short of cash in many states such as Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, Jaitley said he has reviewed the […]

JIO Wallet Offers: Paytm, Amazon, PhonePe give cashback on 399 recharge

Wallet players like Paytm, Mobikwik, PhonePe and AmazonPay have come up with cash back offers for Reliance Jio users who want to take advantage of the Rs 399 recharge scheme valid till today midnight. Last week, India’s largest wireless Internet provider said anyone recharging with Rs 399 to get 84 days of ‘free’ usage, will […]

Don’t ignore cards in the era of mobile payments – SBI

The ongoing rollout of Bharat QR and other mobile payment systems could result in some pain for banks as it could make it harder for their card or PoS business to become profitable. According to an estimate by the State Bank of India, card swipe transactions cost significantly more than Bharat QR and mobile transactions, […]

SBI, IOB and Corp Bank only PSBs to charge for mobile NEFT

Only three public sector banks — State Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and Corporation Bank — levy charges on even the smallest money transfer done via mobile phones using the National Electronic Fund Transfer or NEFT facility, data compiled from public sector banks show. None of the remaining 18 public sector banks have a […]

India bitcoin law not ready yet – Finance Ministry

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said there was no law on the use of bitcoin and similar crypto currencies in India, and users of such currencies may not get recourse to legal remedies for any damage. However, Jaitely added that the government has set up a committee that is expected to come up with suggestions for […]

SBI enables Samsung Pay for some of its debit cards

State Bank of India said it was enabling payment by Samsung Pay service on some of its higher debit card variants. Samsung Pay works by mimicking the ‘swiping’ action of a credit or debit card by sending a magnetic pulse. The ‘card machine’ or point of sale machine mistakes this for an actual swipe and […]

Demonetization took India forward by 3 years – SBI

The demonetization of currency notes late last year has doubled the number of card transactions and helped push India’s payment digitisation by three years, State Bank of India said in a note. “Even after seven months post demonetization, the transaction value is quite large and approximately double of what it had been corresponding month last […]

Credit, debit card fraud down sharply this year in India

Incidents of fraud and theft involving credit and debit cards have fallen sharply in the current financial year, according to data for the first nine months provided by the Reserve Bank of India. While the exact reasons for the sharp decrease is not known, banks in India have been putting in more and more precautions after […]

PayTM ropes in IIT Kanpur for ‘cashless campus’

PayTM, India’s biggest mobile payment company and a minority subsidiary of Alibaba Group, said it partnered with Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur to bring its cashless payment solution to the country’s premier engineering college. Under the program, students will be able to make payments using the mobile app at hostel canteens, medical store, tea stalls, […]

PayTM adds support for UPI payments

Customers of PayTM, India’s largest wallet service can now make payments using the Unified Payments Interface, the government of India’s open payments platform. The company has signed up with ICICI Bank be able to receive payments from its customers who are on the UPI platform using its ID ‘paytm@icici’. However, customers cannot simply transfer the money to […]

After Freecharge, Axis Bank wins virtual POS provider Paynear for its UPI platform

Paynear, which helps shopkeepers and businesses to accept card payments without buying a point-of-sale (POS) machine, has tied up with Axis Bank to implement support for UPI or Unified Payment Interface. UPI allows users to send and receive money and make payments using IDs that resemble email addresses (for example, rajesh@icici). Paynear is an Indian […]

Three lakh Amul outlets to start accepting MobiKwik payments

MobiKwik, Indian mobile wallet major, today announced its tie up with Amul, the Indian dairy cooperative. The association will help customers of Amul in making cashless payments with MobiKwik at 7000 Amul outlets and 3 lac Amul Multi brand outlets & retailers across India. “In today’s less cash economy , through this pan India initiative […]

PayTM hit by Rs 6.15 lakh fraud

PayTM, India’s largest wallet company, has been cheated to the extent over Rs 6.15 lakh by 48 customers claiming illegal refunds for goods they already received. A case has been registered with the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is currently looking into the matter. Besides PayTM, others such as Freecharge and MobiKwik are also present […]

BEST bus users can now pay using Freecharge and Ridlr

Freecharge, owned by Snapdeal, said users of BEST public transport buses in Mumbai can pay for their tickets using its wallet service. This has been achieved by tying up with Ridlr, the official mobile ticketing app partner of BEST. “BEST commuters can now pay for their bus tickets and monthly passes digitally, saving them the […]