QBiz: RBI to Facilitate Digital Payments, Infosys Bags $2 Bn Deal
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1. RBI to Facilitate Payments Among Different Mobile Wallets
The Reserve Bank on Tuesday, 16 October, released guidelines to facilitate payments among different mobile wallets, a move aimed at promoting digital transactions.
As per the road-map laid down in 2017, interoperability of all KYC-compliant Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) was to be enabled in three phases – interoperability of PPIs issued in the form of wallets through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), interoperability between wallets and bank accounts through UPI, and interoperability for PPIs issued in the form of cards through card networks.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued consolidated guidelines for enabling all phases “in order to prepare better for implementation of interoperability”.
Interoperability is the technical compatibility that enables a payment system to be used in conjunction with other payment systems.
(Source: The Financial Express)
2. Q2 Results: Infosys Scores $2-Billion Large Deals, Margins Flat Despite Rupee Boost
Infosys Ltd.’s profit rose as expected in the July-September quarter and India’s second-largest software services provider maintained full-year guidance, backed by strong client addition for the second straight quarter.
The Bengaluru-based firm’s net profit rose 13.6 percent sequentially to Rs 4,110 crore in the second quarter, according to its stock exchange filing. That compares with Rs 4,042-crore consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
(Source: Bloomberg Quint)
3. IL&FS Needs a Foreign Probe: Ex-MD Hari Sankaran
Hari Sankaran, the ousted vice chairman of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS), has suggested to a court that an independent foreign agency, rather than a local one, be hired to probe the company’s affairs leading to the supersession of its board earlier this month.
Sankaran said the appointment of an overseas agency, possibly from the UK, Israel or Singapore, would help prove that there was no wrongdoing or mismanagement in the company and ensure that the findings are unbiased.
He was responding to a government petition at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
(Source: Livemint)
4. India Needs Strong, Decisive Govt to Take Swift Decision, Maintain High Growth: Jaitley
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday, 17 October, said India needs a strong and decisive leadership at the Centre to continue its high growth path and take swift decisions.
Outlining the challenges for India, Jaitley said being a net buyer of oil, a rise in global crude prices adversely impacts the country and hence the economy has to be resilient to deal with it.
“If this path of high growth trajectory is to continue...if these higher growth, higher revenues and higher resources have to continue, better infrastructure objective has to be achieved, India needs a strong and decisive leadership at the Centre.
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
5. US Stocks Rally Most Since March as Tech Surges
US stocks gained the most in more than six months as corporate earnings provided a respite from tensions over trade and geopolitics. The dollar declined.
The S&P 500 surged more than 2 percent, all 30 members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced and small caps in the Russell 2000 Index notched the best gain since the day after the 2016 election.
The Nasdaq Composite saw its biggest gain since March as UnitedHealth Group bolstered health-care firms and Adobe’s forecast lifted software makers.
Technology stocks looked set to extend gains in the futures session as Netflix rallied on a surge in net subscribers. IBM fell in late trading as its revenue missed targets.
(Source: Bloomberg Quint)
6. Alibaba, Google, Apple, Fb and Amazon Gain Big in E-Wallet Transactions
Technology majors from the US and China have gained significant share in e-wallet transactions globally including in India, according to a joint report of Capgemini and BNP Paribas.
“… the global e-wallet market is growing even faster, with transaction estimated to total 41.8 billion, which is about 8.6 per cent of global non-cash transactions. Alibaba, Tencent, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon have captured a significant share of this market,” the World Payment Report 2018 said.
Globally, non-cash transaction volumes grew in double digits during 2015-16 with total volume reaching 482.6 billion.
“BigTechs (such as Alibaba, Tencent, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon) accounted for about 71 per cent of the global e-wallet market share in 2016,” the report said.
(Source: The Financial Express)
7. Data Localization: Deadline Over, What’s Next for Firms?
The government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have stuck to their stance of asking payment companies to store payments data locally. The deadline for payment companies to adhere to the RBI’s data localization norms was 15 October but major international payment companies such as Visa and Mastercard are said to have missed the deadline.
The RBI and government don’t favour granting any relaxation sought by these firms asking them to permit mirroring of data.
The norms set by the central bank aim to ensure that all data relating to payment systems operated by payment system providers is stored locally to ensure better monitoring. Mint takes a look at these norms, their impact on payment firms and the privacy aspects.
(Source: Livemint)
8. India Will Add 8.5-Gw Renewable Energy in FY19, Says ICRA
The country’s renewable sector has so far seen a robust bidding activity providing a reasonably healthy visibility for solar and wind capacity addition in the next two fiscals, ICRA experts said. They expect capacity addition of about 8-8.5 GW in FY19.
The share of renewable energy in overall installed power generation capacity has increased from 9 per cent in March 2009 to around 20 per cent (which translates to capacity of around 71 GW) as on June 2018, rating agency ICRA said in a report.
ICRA expects the share of renewables in the total generation mix to increase by 5 per cent in next four years – from 7.7 per cent in FY18 to 12-13 per cent by FY22.
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
9. Smartphone Maker That Overtook Apple Reveals New Flagship
Fresh from overtaking Apple Inc. to become the world’s second-largest smartphone maker in August, Huawei Technologies Co. unveiled a new flagship device aimed at clinching the top spot.
The Mate 20 Pro, revealed at an event in London Tuesday as a rival to the iPhone XS Max and Samsung Technology Co.’s Galaxy Note 9, includes three rear-facing cameras, facial recognition security and an artificial intelligence engine that can identify objects and people in real time.
(Source: Bloomberg Quint)
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