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The blockchain and crypto assets council (BACC) of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) in a media statement said that a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies will encourage non-state players thereby leading to more unlawful usage of such currencies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently had said that it is important that all democratic nations work together on this and ensure it does not end up in the wrong hands, which can spoil our youth. IAMAI in a statement added that it fully concurs with this view and in its submission before the Supreme Court earlier listed several negative outcomes of…

Country’s largest lender, State Bank of India on November 22 dual listed $650 million green bonds simultaneously on India International Exchange (India INX) and Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The bank said the dual listing is in line with this year’s topic of world investor week, ‘Sustainable Finance’, as indicated by regulatory body International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). Two days back, BSE’s international arm, India INX had announced its memorandum of understanding with Luxembourg Stock Exchange for cooperation in financial services industry, maintenance of orderly markets in securities respective country, ESG and green finance in the local market. This dual listing…

The internal working group set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on November 18 submitted its report prescribing regulations and suggestions to enable growth and regulate the digital lending ecosystem. The working group was set up in the backdrop of business conduct and customer protection concerns arising out of the spurt in digital lending activities. The report’s thrust has been on enhancing customer protection and making the digital lending ecosystem safe and sound while encouraging innovation, RBI said in a release. Some of the gists of the recommendations include:The working group recommends subjecting the digital lending applications to…

BOB Financial Solutions (BFSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda (BoB), has partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch BoB Credit Cards on the RuPay platform. The cards were launched on the JCB International network, and both cards will support international acceptance. In addition, these cards come with various attractive benefits for the customers, such as five times reward points on select merchant categories, fuel surcharge waiver, pre and post-purchase EMI offers, up to 3 complimentary add-on credit cards for family members and several exciting merchant offers enabled by NPCI and BFSL. BFSL and NPCI…

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on November 16 announced the update on payments infrastructure development fund (PIDF). The PIDF Scheme was operationalised by RBI in January, 2021, it subsidises deployment of points of sale (PoS) infrastructure (physical and digital modes) in tier-3 to tier-6 centres and north eastern states of the country. Further, from August 26, 2021, beneficiaries of PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi Scheme) in tier-1 and tier-2 centres have also been covered. Acquiring institutions (banks and non-banks), registered under the PIDF Scheme, commit region-wise deployment targets, submit deployment statistics and claim subsidy for devices which…

Private non-bank lender, Shriram Capital on November 11 appointed Ajay Thomas as Chief Digital Officer to lead the digital transformation at the company. Thomas as CDO will drive the group’s digital strategy and omnichannel customer experience. Thomas has 17 years of experience as a business and digital leader in the financial services industry. In his previous stint, he was associated with Bajaj Finance as head for corporate strategy and fintech. He has also been associated with HDFC Bank and CitiFinancial. D V Ravi, MD & CEO, Shriram Capital, said, “I am happy to announce Ajay John as our CDO. He…

The Reserve Bank of India on November announced the launch of its first global hackathon – Harbinger 2021 – Innovation for Transformation” with the theme ‘Smarter Digital Payments’. The hackathon invites participants to identify and develop solutions which will have potential to make digital payments accessible to the under-served. Further, enhance the ease of payments and user experience, while strengthening the security of digital payments and promoting customer protection. The central bank has laid out problem statements in the payment and settlement systems landscape as follows: Innovative, easy-to-use, non-mobile digital payment solutions for converting small-ticket cash transactions to digital mode.Context-based retail…

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on November 9 lifted the restrictions imposed on Diners Club International Limited. The card network was barred from onboarding new domestic customers due to non-compliance with data localisation norms in April 23, 2021. RBI said the restrictions have been lifted with immediate effect. Similarly, American Express and Mastercard were put under restriction by RBI over non-compliance with data localisation norms. Both the card networks are yet to get relief from RBI.

India has surpassed China in financial inclusion metrics, according to a research note published by the State Bank of India’s economic research department. According to the report, sound financial inclusion policies have a multiplier effect on economic growth, reducing poverty and income inequality, while also being conducive for financial stability. India has gone ahead with the initiation of PMJDY accounts since 2014 enabled by digital infrastructure and careful recalibration of bank branches using BC model. The report said such financial inclusion has also been enabled by use of digital payments as between 2015 and 2020, mobile and internet banking transactions…

Leading payments platform, PhonePe has launched ‘SafeCard’. a tokenisation solution for online debit and credit card transactions. The solution will enable both PhonePe users and merchant partners to continue experiencing the convenience of saved card transactions with increased security and in compliance with the new RBI guidelines. It said that the solution supports all major card networks such as Mastercard, Rupay and Visa. Tokenisation is an added layer of security by converting card holder data to a randomly generated number known as token. All the customer has to do is provide a one time consent via OTP and undertake a…