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India’s coming UPI battle in mobile payments
All non-cash transactions (immediate payment service, electronic clearing service and national electronic funds transfer, credit and debit cards, usage at point-of-sale, all prepaid instruments, m-wallets and mobile banking) in December 2016 grew by 28% from the October figure— sharply higher than the 10% in the preceding months.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Indian Government to Provide More Money in Next Edition of Jan-Dhan Yojana
The Indian government is all set to extend the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, possibly doubling the overdraft amount under the scheme and using it to give loans to promote entrepreneurship.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Fintech startups took nearly a third of all African venture funding in 2017
While fintech is seen as disrupting the traditional financial sector in more advanced economies, in Africa it is bridging gaps that have not been addressed by the banking industry to begin with. Between 2015 and 2017, African fintech startups including names like Flutterwave and Paystack jointly raised more than $100 million.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mastercard’s New Platform Helps Kenyan Micromerchants Get Credit–And Restock Faster
Without a financial history, small shop owners struggle to access loans. A new project from Mastercard helps them build up a track record of payments through digitizing their orders from local wholesalers.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Uber rival Grab acquires Indian startup to bulk up its mobile payment platform
The deal — which is undisclosed — will see iKaaz’s engineering team join the Bangalore-based engineering office which Grab opened last year. The firm declined to say how many new recruits are moving over from iKaaz, but a spokesperson disclosed that Grab currently has 75 engineers in Bangalore with plans to grow the number to 200 before this year.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- digital payments, startups
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Cambodia Has Its Own Mobile Payment App, But Will It Catch On Beyond Phnom Penh?
Pi Pay, although little-known outside of its native Cambodia, has scaled quickly to become a ubiquitous digital wallet solution and the first e-commerce app to gain real traction in a city where many residents still refuse to trust credit cards and banks.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Fintech must serve the real economy, Chinese regulator says
In a speech at the Asian Financial Forum on Monday, Jiang Yang, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said the development of fintech should support the wider economy, instead of profiting only "a small group of people."
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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IFMR group looks to appoint investment banks for share sale
IFMR group, which provides financial services to lower income population and the companies serving this segment, plans to go public and is in talks to hire investment banks for the same, two people aware of the development said.
- Region
- South Asia