A letter from a disgruntled Rs.100 note reminding UPI that cash is still king. “This is an outstanding accomplishment. It indicates the collective resolve of the people of India to embrace new technologies and make the economy cleaner.” – PM Modi That’s PM Modi lauding UPI crossing 6 billion transactions in July. Like any icon,Read more
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A dissection of why credit card payments through UPI may not be as convenient, accepted, and trusted. RBI has proposed linking credit cards (CC) to UPI. It’ll, to start with, allow Rupay credit card payments through UPI rails. And in the due course, allow other CC issuers to come on board. Credit on UPI has beenRead more
The best stories of 2022 from our monthly fintech newsletter, FinTales. February 2022: The Hassleocracy of Crypto-taxes “Cryptos have no underlying assets, not even a tulip.” –Shaktikanta Das Ouch. That’s the RBI Governor, not mincing his words. Like everyone else, we’ve pored over the Budget announcements on crypto-assets. The euphoria in the crypto-verse was short-lived.Read more
This article discusses the impact of and alternatives to the zero MDR policy in the context of the RBI discussion paper on payment charges. In August 2022, the RBI released a discussion paper on payment charges. For fintech players, the paper’s observations about UPI are particularly relevant. The RBI has sought public comments on whether charges shouldRead more
This post explains the legal grey areas in offering credit through UPI. It provides a snapshot of regulatory action by NPCI and highlights implementation issues which must be resolved to enable this use-case. Moving money through UPI is like taking an Uber between two deposit accounts. UPI picks money (already lying-in deposit accounts) and movesRead more
Most digital/IT related services have survived the negative economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, with a sharp drop in e-commerce and online travel and event booking transactions, the digital payments industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 lockdown in the last 2 months. UPI transactions decreased from 1.3 million in December 2019Read more
In February 2017, Whatsapp had announced its plans to introduce a UPI-based payments service in India. Since then, a number of developments have taken place with respect to the payments service, including a discussion on privacy concerns surrounding the application’s use of customer data. This post provides a timeline of all the developments that haveRead more