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☆ India’s UPI: How e-payments have taken over, from sari shops to street food stalls
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Amy Gunia | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“Digital payments are likely to enhance India’s growth by eliminating frictions, increasing efficiency, and reducing costs,” Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University, told CNN. Covid-19 further boosted the adoption of digital transactions, as people tried to protect themselves from the virus. In 2023, the number of UPI transactions topped 100 billion. Azeez, a 34-year-old rickshaw driver in Old Delhi, told CNN that he’s too scared of losing money to use e-payments. Sania Farooqui/CNNConvenience aside, India’s digital public infrastructure has helped it achieve an 80% financial inclusion rate.

Persons: Brij Kishore, ”, Agarwal, tuk, India’s, Narendra Modi, Eswar Prasad, Old Delhi Sania Farooqui, Ramesh Kumar's, Sania Farooqui, Ramesh Kumar, he’s, Azeez, Prasad, Kapil Sharma, “ Organizations: Hong Kong / New Delhi CNN, ”, Unified, “, frictions, Cornell University, CNN, “ UPI, India, National Payments Corporation of India, UPI, Sarojini, Finance, Eiffel Locations: Hong Kong / New Delhi, Chandni, India’s Old Delhi, Delhi, India, Old Delhi, Sarojini, Covid

☆ India’s fintech partygoers nurse a needed hangover
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Shritama Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MUMBAI, Sept 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India’s financial technology industry is suffering from overindulgence. And it was on full display at a sombre Global Fintech Festival in Mumbai last week. The South Asian country is the world’s third-largest fintech market by number of unicorns. Poster child Byju’s is squabbling with lenders as investors walk away and financial reports get delayed. Follow @ShritamaBose on XCONTEXT NEWSThe Global Fintech Fest organised by the National Payments Corporation of India and industry association Payments Council of India was held between Sept. 5 and 7 in Mumbai.

Persons: securitisation, ’, hesitatingly, Vishwas Patel, they’re, fintechs, Mukesh Ambani’s, Antony Currie, Katrina Hamlin, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Founders, Boston Consulting Group, Venture, Reserve Bank, One97 Communications, FSN, Commerce Ventures, Innoven Triple Blue Capital, XV Partners, Financial, National Payments Corporation of India, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Mumbai, India, fintech, Sequoia Capital’s India, Southeast Asia, Rwanda, Japan, Germany, Peru

☆ Microsoft-backed AI4Bharat set to raise $12 million funding from Peak XV, Lightspeed
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Yuvraj Malik | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

July 7 (Reuters) - AI4Bharat, a start-up backed by Microsoft (MSFT.O), is raising $12 million from venture capital firms Peak XV and Lightspeed Venture to develop artificial intelligence-powered chatbots for Indian languages, according to three people familiar with the matter. Most seed rounds are usually up to $1 million to $2 million. AI4Bharat, Peak XV and Lightspeed did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The investment is among the first from Peak XV Partners after rebranding from Sequoia Capital India and SEA following a split with its U.S.-based parent fund last month. Indian AI start-ups have raised $583 million this year, as of June, according to data from Venture Intelligence.

Persons: OpenAI's ChatGPT, Nandan Nilekani, Rudder, Yuvraj Malik Organizations: Microsoft, Lightspeed Venture, Indian Institute of Technology, Infosys, National Payments Corp, XV Partners, Sequoia Capital, SEA, Venture Intelligence, Thomson Locations: Madras, India, Sequoia Capital India, Bengaluru

☆ Flipkart and PhonePe could be $100 billion businesses in India, Walmart says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Siddharth Cavale | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, June 14 (Reuters) - Walmart's (WMT.N) Flipkart marketplace and PhonePe payments business in India could be $100 billion businesses buoyed by strong growth, the retailer's chief financial officer said on Wednesday at an investor conference. In its most recent quarter ended April 30, Walmart said its Flipkart business generated double-digit sales growth, boosted by new shoppers in some cities and a 50% jump in ad sales. Flipkart was valued at more than $40 billion in 2022 and counts itself among India's most valuable startups. PhonePe controlled 46% share of the payments market in December, according to National Payments Corporation of India, and has 400 million registered users. "It is not crazy to think that both those businesses could be $100 billion businesses in the future," Walmart's Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said.

Persons: Flipkart, John David Rainey, Siddharth Cavale, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: YORK, Walmart, Unified, National Payments Corporation of India, Thomson Locations: India, New York

☆ India's PhonePe raises another $100 mln from General Atlantic, other investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 12 (Reuters) - Walmart Inc (WMT.N)-owned Indian payments firm PhonePe on Wednesday said it had raised an additional $100 million from General Atlantic and other investors as part of its ongoing $1 billion fundraise to expand into the lucrative lending space. With the latest round, PhonePe, India's most valuable payments firm with an estimated value of $12 billion, has raised $650 million across four tranches from its backers, including Tiger Global. General Atlantic had invested $350 million in the fintech during the same funding round in January. At over 46%, PhonePe in March had the largest market share among applications running the unified payments interface (UPI) digital payments system, per data from the National Payments Corporation of India. Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini GoswamiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India extends deadline to levy cap on digital payment transactions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MUMBAI, Dec 2 (Reuters) - India has decided to extend the deadline on capping the share of digital payment transactions by about two years to Dec. 31, 2024, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said on Friday. The NPCI had said in late 2020 that payment firms will not be allowed to process more than 30% of the total volume of transactions on UPI from Jan 1. The move comes as a breather to companies like Walmart Inc's (WMT.N) PhonePe and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google, which are among the leading digital money transfer apps in the country. They are powered by the state-backed United Payments Interface (UPI) framework, which facilitates peer-to-peer money transfer online through mobile apps. Reporting by Nupur Anand; Editing by Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Xiaomi discontinues financial services business in India -TechCrunch
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp (1810.HK) is winding down its financial services business in India, TechCrunch reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The company recently pulled its Mi Pay and Mi Credit apps in India from the local Play Store and its own app store, the report said. Three years after its launch, Mi Pay, which allowed users to make bill payments and money transfers, is no longer listed among the recognized apps by regulatory body National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), TechCrunch said. Xiaomi and NPCI did not immediately did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment. In India, Xiaomi's strongest market outside of China, the company has been subject to government probes for allegedly dodging tax regulators.

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