“UPI has had the fastest acceptance rate not just among payment platforms but digital platforms of any kind,” Dilip Asbe, chief executive officer of the National Payments Corporation of India, has told Bloomberg... More
Delhi Metro to introduce biometric-based ticketing to offer concessions to students and senior citizens — Techradar — “Delhi Metro is looking to be the first metro line in India to link biometrics to smart cards, in a bid to offer concessions to riders… Once the new biometric-based ticketing system is installed, the smart card will be linked to an individual users’ credentials, and the card will no longer be transferable.”
Mastercard to launch solution for smartphones to become contactless acceptance devices — The Hindu BusinessLine — “If your phone has NFC, then it can become a point-of-sale (POS) device. A customer can tap the contactless card on the phone,” said Vikas Saraogi, vice president of acceptance development at Mastercard, adding that it is likely to be launched in India in the first half of next year.”
China remains the country with by far the highest mobile payments adoption rate, with 81.1% of smartphone owners making use of the technology, eMarketer reports... More
Uber users in Delhi can now use the app to plan journeys on the Delhi Metro and on local bus services — and will soon be able to purchase train tickets from within the Uber app as well... More
“In the last 12 months alone, we’ve grown more than three times to 67 million monthly active users, driving transactions worth over US$110bn on an annualised basis, with hundreds of thousands of offline and online merchants,” Caesar Sengupta, vice president of Google’s next billion users initiative, has revealed... More
Google has launched a new offering for merchants in India that combines an online storefront with physical Spot Codes they can place in their premises to let shoppers easily place orders and make payments... More
WhatsApp in talks to launch mobile payments in Indonesia — sources — Reuters — “Unlike in India where it plans to offer direct peer-to-peer payment services, WhatsApp will simply serve as a platform in Indonesia supporting payments via local digital wallets due to tough licensing regulations… The Indonesia model could become a template for WhatsApp to adopt in other emerging markets to get around regulations on foreign players creating their own digital wallets, the sources said.”
Mumbai bus operator BEST is to begin a pilot of India’s ‘One Nation One Card’ national transit card system in November this year... More
Amazon launches Transparency in Europe, India and Canada — Amazon — “Transparency is a product serialisation service that provides a unique code for every unit that is manufactured. Brands put these codes on its products and every time one of these products is ordered in Amazon’s stores, Amazon scans and verifies the code to ensure only authentic units reach customers. Additionally, customers can use a mobile app to scan the code and verify authenticity regardless of where they purchased their units. Brands can also use Transparency to communicate unique unit-level information, including manufacturing date, manufacturing place, or other enhanced product information (eg ingredients).”
Samsung partners with Paisabazaar.com to offer financial products on Samsung Pay — Paisabazaar — “Paisabazaar.com, India’s largest online marketplace for financial products, today announced its partnership with Samsung… Samsung Pay users can apply for credit cards and personal loans from the platform. The move will enable millions of existing and potential Samsung Pay users to get the benefit of seamlessly opting for a host of financial services.”
Payments, food delivery apps launch games to woo users — Economic Times — “Payments apps and food delivery platforms are launching games to increase user base and stickiness… Paytm has found that more than 70% of its users play these games daily… In-app games, such as Zomato Cricket Cup, Swiggy Match Day Mania, Paytm Games and Tez Shots by Google Pay, are just a few examples.”
Google’s new plan to push Google Pay in India: cashback incentives in Android apps — Techcrunch — “The company has built an in-app engagement rewards platform that promises to help developers and businesses retain users and drive engagement on their apps, two sources familiar with the matter said… Sitting at the core of this new play is Google Pay, which will be used for transactions between businesses and users, thereby expanding the reach of Google’s payment service.”
QR code option may be must for shops — The Times of India — “The government is looking to mandate a QR code-based payment option using UPI at all shops. The measure is intended to promote digital payments as the preferred option.”
Insurance company Reliance General Insurance is using NFC tags on screens at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport to enable travellers to quickly and easily make a last-minute travel insurance purchase... More
Despite still being only in a test phase in India, mobile payments via Facebook’s WhatsApp instant messaging platform will launch in more markets this year, according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg... More
Amazon Pay launches person to person (P2P) payments through UPI for Android customers — Amazon — “Customers can use this functionality to settle bills/expenses with friends, lend/return money to family, pay rents, pay for services like house-help, newspaper bills, milk subscription and more. Customers can also make payments from their bank account to local stores nearby or to [an] Amazon delivery associate at [the] doorstep by scanning UPI QR codes using the Amazon app.”
National Payments Corporation of India mulls using blockchain to boost digital transactions — Business Today — “The NPCI has floated an Expression of Interest (EOI) in order to enable bidders to propose their capability for developing distributed ledger technology/blockchain in the payment domain.”
Amazon Pay makes an offline push with ‘scan and pay’ service — Livemint — “We have begun introducing Amazon SmileCode, a new way for our customers to shop and pay at physical stores like Shoppers Stop, among others,” said an Amazon spokesperson. “Customers will soon find Amazon SmileCodes in neighbourhood retail stores, where they can scan and pay for their purchases seamlessly.”
SBI Yono: The big security advantage for you with this new cardless cash withdrawal — Financial Express — “Customers can initiate the cash withdrawal process by installing the Yona App and setting a six-digit Yono Cash PIN for the transaction and another six-digit reference number for a transaction, which customers will get after initiating the cash withdrawal process on their registered mobile number via SMS, that has to be used within 30 minutes along with the PIN at the nearest Yono Cash point to get the cash… The SBI has enabled 16,500 ATMs for this service, called Yono Cash Points.”
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