We have set up Paytm Money to focus on investment and wealth management — Paytm — “We are fast evolving from being a pioneer in digital payments to becoming a full-stack financial services company, which offers banking, lending, insurance, and payments. With Paytm Money, we will cover the entire spectrum of wealth management and plan to add more investment offerings going forward.”
India
India adds tokenization to Aadhaar national biometric ID system
Aadhaar adds fresh security layer with 16-digit ‘Virtual ID’ — Times of India — “UIDAI’s Virtual ID, which will be issued from March, will allow over 119 crore [1.19bn] Aadhaar holders to generate a 16-digit temporary number that can be shared with a bank, insurance company or telecom service provider instead of the 12-digit Aadhaar number. All service providers will have to upgrade their systems to mandatorily allow for the new tool from June.”
Alipay pushes into Hong Kong, India, Thailand and the Philippines with Christmas shopping festival
Alipay to hold online 24-hour Christmas shopping festival as part of expansion push — South China Morning Post — “The event will take place in Hong Kong, India, Thailand and the Philippines with Alipay partners in each location: Hutchison in Hong Kong, Paytm in India, Truemoney in Thailand and GCash in the Philippines… As part of the December event, the AlipayHK joint venture has partnered with more than 8,000 bricks-and-mortar stores to offer exclusive gifts, discounts and rewards.”
One in three ‘connected consumers’ in India now use mobile payments
Kantar TNS study reveals the rise of mobile payments in India — Kantar TNS — “Mobile payments have seen a sharp rise with one in three (35%) connected consumers in India using it. The popularity of mobile payments in India is also revealed by the number of regular users, with 23% saying they use mobile payments at least once a week. The results of the study showed that India (35%) is ahead of other APAC countries like Indonesia (9%) and Philippines (7%) but has still a lot of catching up to do with the likes of China (94%) and Singapore (65%) where mobile payments have become a more regular habit.”
Google reports 12m Tez mobile payments users in India
Google for India: Building India-first products and features — Google — “Our India-first mobile payments app Tez has seen huge growth in its first 10 weeks. Tez has processed over 140m transactions from nearly 12 million active users. There are more than 525,000 merchants already on Tez, using it to take payments, pay their suppliers or transfer money to employees… In the coming weeks, Tez will start rolling out a customized experience to pay bills right in the app. More than 70 billers will be supported, including utilities and direct-to-home service providers.”
Paytm CEO sets out plans to become the world’s largest digital bank
Alibaba-backed Paytm aims to become world’s largest digital bank — Bloomberg — “Paytm Payments Bank aims to create the world’s largest digital bank with 500m accounts, envisioning an online financial services provider of everything from wealth management to credit cards and stock market trading… The bank grew out of Paytm’s digital wallet, which amassed over a hundred million customers after India took high-denomination bills — or nearly 90% of the value of cash — out of circulation last November.”
Juniper forecasts 375m NFC ticketing users by 2022
NFC mobile ticketing users to reach 375 million users by 2022, despite a slow start — Juniper Research — “The number of mobile users adopting NFC ticketing will exceed 375 million by 2022, up from an estimated 122 million in 2017. While there is rapid growth in NFC ticketing in European markets, Juniper has scaled back NFC ticketing adoption in many other markets, such as the US, India, and Africa, due to the lack of available services and infrastructure.”
ICICI Bank partners with Paytm to offer instant loans during checkout
Paytm-ICICI Bank Postpaid: Now get instant digital credit in your mobile wallet — BGR — “While checking out, customers will see a ‘Pay Later’ option, and on clicking it, their credit score would be calculated instantly. ICICI Bank will arrive at the credit score based on behavioral data from Paytm, the bank’s own customer data, and financial data from the credit bureau.”
Indian government sets out plans to make digital payments ‘visibly cheaper’ than cash
Govt to incentivise online payments to push digital transactions — Hindustan Times — “The incentives could include cashbacks and reward points for BHIM users… The note presented last week by the ministry of electronics and information technology to Parliament’s standing committee on finance detailed a five-step road map to push e-transactions. ‘Digital payments to be made visibly cheaper than cash,’ the note said.
Samsung Pay reports 2.5m users in India
Samsung Pay service reaches 2.5 million users in India — Android Headlines — “Samsung Pay reached 2.5 million users in India, one million more than it had in mid-September, a company official said on Wednesday… Samsung’s service is presently available on 26 devices in India, up from ten when it officially debuted in the country in early 2017. It’s currently supported by ten banks and seven more local card issuers.”
Paytm to invest US$1bn in building out its payments business
Paytm plans $1 billion top-up to cash in on note ban success — Times of India — “Sharma said they were looking at a three-pronged strategy to double the number of users in the coming year by converting Paytm users to its payments bank, tap into non-wallet users through UPI and sell financial products from next year. ‘Long ago, we realised that standalone payments as a business is an orphan and thus we are building a bouquet of products,’ Sharma said.”
Indian mobile wallet giant Paytm plans expansion to US, Japan and Europe
India’s top payment app has eyes on US market — Wall Street Journal — “India’s largest mobile payment app — backed by the likes of China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp — has its eye on the US, its founder said. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s D.Live Singapore event, Paytm founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma said his aim is to expand into developed markets, also including Japan and Europe.”
Facebook’s WhatsApp to offer in-chat payments in India
WhatsApp in-chat payments feature is bad news for digital wallets, payment companies in India — FactorDaily — “Instant messenger WhatsApp is readying an intuitive in-chat payments feature, ahead of a likely December launch in India… This will be the first time that WhatsApp is introducing the payments feature anywhere in the world… The Facebook-owned company has partnered with three banks – State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, three of India’s biggest banks, to launch the feature, FactorDaily has also learned.”
Google reports 7.5m users of its Tez audio QR mobile payments app
Edited transcript of Alphabet earnings conference call — Yahoo Finance — “To help millions of people, we are building products specifically designed for local markets in Asia. In India last month, we launched Tez, a mobile payments and commerce app that already has more than 7.5 million users who have made more than 30m transactions. I’m really excited about the potential this brings for India’s mostly cash-based economy.”
Apple prepares to launch Apple Pay in India
Apple may launch payments service in India soon, eyes local partnerships — LiveMint — “In an interview at Apple’s Hyderabad development centre, Apple senior vice-president Eddy Cue said the company wants to launch Apple Pay in India in the near future without giving a specific date… The company will look to partner and integrate its payments service with established players in the country like Paytm, rather than build a new payments solution from scratch, Cue said.”
India’s central bank implements new rules for mobile wallet issuers
Master Direction on Issuance and Operation of Prepaid Payment Instruments — Reserve Bank of India — “The Master Direction lays down the eligibility criteria and the conditions of operation for payment system operators involved in the issuance of semi-closed and open system PPIs [Prepaid Payment Instruments] in the country. All entities approved/authorised to operate payment systems involving the issuance of PPIs shall comply with these directions.”
Reserve Bank of India to issue guidelines for interoperable mobile wallets
Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies — Reserve Bank of India — “In line with the Vision for Payment and Settlement Systems in the country, the revised framework will pave the way for bringing interoperability into usage of PPIs [Prepaid Payment Instruments]. Interoperability amongst KYC-compliant PPIs shall be implemented within six months of the date of issuance of the revised Master Directions, which will be issued within a week, ie by October 11, 2017.”
Google’s Tez mobile wallet to be pre-installed on budget smartphones
Google partners with budget smartphone makers for pre-installing Tez in devices — BGR — “At the launch of its payments service for India, Google announced partnerships with budget smartphone manufacturers Micromax, Lava, Xolo and others, to offer the Tez app on a pre-installed basis. Upcoming handsets from the above manufacturers, as well as Nokia and Panasonic, will have Google’s payments app pre-loaded… Google further declared that it was open to more such partnerships.”
Google adopts sound-based payments for Indian mobile wallet
Introducing Tez, a mobile payments and commerce app from Google — Google — “Cash Mode is built using our proprietary AQR (Audio QR) technology, which is similar to QR codes but more convenient and more secure. And unlike NFC, it works on almost any smartphone in India, whether Android or iOS.”
Google unveils iOS and Android mobile payments app for India
Tez: Money made simple — Google — “Send money home to your family, split a dinner bill with friends, or pay the neighbourhood chaiwala. Make all payments big or small, directly from your bank account with Tez, Google’s new digital payment app for India.”