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Demonetisation: How to Get Cash-Stuck Microfinance Institutions Digitally Ready in India
The overnight demonetisation of R500 and R1,000 currency notes shook the entire Indian economy, for good or bad is yet uncertain. An estimated 85% of the value of currency has ceased to be a legal tender and the release of the new currency has been rationed for the next few months. Such a move from the government will most likely put a check on black money circulation in medium- to long-term, however, it will also impact businesses in the short-run given the fact that more than 90% of the consumer payments in India still happen in cash. The move is also expected to be a boon for digital financial services ecosystem in India. While the penetration of digital payments infrastructure has rapidly increased in the last two years, the value of consumer payments that happen through cards or other digital means in India is still far behind some of the other comparable economies. The point-of-sale terminals per 100,000 debits cards are lower in India compared to other BRIC nations (India-2; Russia-6.1; China-12.5; Brazil-14.8).
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Can Only Love for Our Postman Ensure Success for India Post Payments Bank?
People have been waiting eagerly for the launch of the India Post Payments Bank or IPPB, the largest among the eight that are likely to start operations over the next few months. Eleven entities received the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) in-principle approval for floating payments banks but three of them have left the field.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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- digital payments, fintech
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Nigeria’s GDP Will Get $88 Billion Boost With Digital Financial Services
With improved and consistent adoption of digital financial services in the country's payment system, about $88 billion will be added to Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2025.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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- digital payments, fintech
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Cash Still Trumps Mobile Payments and Bitcoin in Africa
According to the World Bank’s Global Financial Inclusion Index, Africa has the highest mobile money adoption rate in the world. Worldwide, only 2 percent of the population possesses a mobile money account; in Africa, 12 percent of the population uses mobile money.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mobile wallet firms see positive impact from new authentication rule in India
The removal of two-factor authentication for card transactions below Rs2,000 has made it easier for credit and debit card users, but digital wallets do not have much to worry from the change, industry executives and analysts said.
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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.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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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.
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- Technology
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KCB Bank Kenya, Western Union Introduce Mobile Money Transfer
KCB Bank Kenya and Western Union have launched a mobile-phone based money transfer service.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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