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Cash transactions surge at Indian microfinance firms after note ban
Restrictions on cash withdrawals have had the perverse effect of boosting cash transactions in microfinance companies. Microlenders are hoarding cash received in repayments and then disbursing it to customers directly rather than depositing it into bank accounts, officials of at least three firms said.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Paytm to merge its mobile wallet service with its payments bank in India
One 97 Communications, the parent company of digital payments provider Paytm is preparing to merge its wallet service with the eponymous payments bank-- the licence for which is owned by its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma— once it receives regulatory approval.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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How Catalyst Fund Helped PayGo Energy Build a Foundation for Growth
As startups move past a proof of concept and start to scale, they require whole new sets of systems, operational processes and skills that will allow them to grow and expand. A well-thought-out backend system can help make the transition, but building it requires a team with the technical expertise to implement the right changes.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Tags
- fintech, microfinance
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Grameen Foundation lndia Launches G-LEAP e-Learning App
Grameen Foundation India, a technical services provider dedicated to advancing financial inclusion, launched Grameen Learning Program (G-LEAP), a first of its kind e-learning app for microfinance institutions which enables any-time, any-where learning. Powered by Handytrain, the app will help organizations train frontline microfinance staff and agents quickly and cost-effectively, anywhere and at anytime.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Indians Skipping Plastic Money, Leapfrogging to Mobile Wallets
Unlike the West, Japan and China, which slowly graduated from landline to cordless to cellular telephony and from cash to plastic to mobile payments mode, India has virtually skipped the intermediate stages — cordless telephones and plastic money — of this technological revolution and jumped into cellular telephony and digital banking transaction.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Technology Meets Impact: New Online Marketplace Aims to Expand the Reach of Impact Investing
ImpactUs aims to simplify the process of impact investing through an online platform that allows investors to identify and invest in products that provide social impact. In this email Q&A, Reginald Stanley, president and CEO of ImpactUs, explains how the platform works – and why it's needed.
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- Investing, Technology
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Four Steps to Precision Public Health
When domestic transmission of Zika virus was confirmed in the United States in July 2016, the entire country was not declared at risk — nor even the entire state of Florida. Instead, precise surveillance defined two at-risk areas of Miami-Dade County, neighbourhoods measuring just 2.6 and 3.9 square kilometres. Travel advisories and mosquito control focused on those regions. Six weeks later, ongoing surveillance convinced officials to lift restrictions in one area and expand the other.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Opinion: The Achilles’ Heel For Payments Banks And Financial Inclusion
The RBI's latest operating guidelines for payments banks permit payments banks to "use KYC done by the promoter / promoter group entity", if it "is of the same quality as prescribed for a banking company". This will allow payments banks to leverage their existing telco customer base, and (where KYC has been done to prescribed standard) send out SMSs offering to open an account at the click of a button.
- Categories
- Technology
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