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There are too many e-wallets in India and most are near-empty
While the Indian e-wallet industry’s size stood at an estimated Rs154 crore in 2015-16, it is expected to zoom to Rs30,000 crore by the end of 2021-22. And everyone, from financial technology companies to banks to the government-backed National Payments Corporation of India, is scrambling for a share of that pie.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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MobiCash Launches MobiSpaza in South Africa
The new platform is a spaza sector-focused mobile platform and is an inclusive business tool that builds bridges between spaza sector stakeholders, such as private corporations, state-owned entities, co-operatives, and not-for-profit organizations, and the township communities they serve.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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India’s most popular mobile wallet company is pushing to disrupt financial services with a new money market fund
Paytm recently became the second nonbank to leverage India's payment bank initiative, which works to give more consumers access to mainstream financial services. As part of the initiative, Paytm will be able to accept deposits, issue debit cards, and facilitate online transactions, but it won't be able to lend money to consumers.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Fintech companies take on banks, telcos with big data arsenal in Africa
Developing markets such as Kenya do not yet have the levels of Internet penetration and e-commerce sophistication to attract these online giants turned fintech entrepreneurs. At the same time, a stable of local fintech companies are sprouting and they are expected to mature as fast Internet becomes more affordable and as Kenyans embrace shopping and banking online.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Hike beats WhatsApp to launching messenger app payments in India
Hike, which is introducing version 5.0 today, is starting out with peer-to-peer and bank-to-bank payment options, the former being an in-app wallet that is not dependent on a bank account and the latter a service powered by India’s government-backed UPI payment system. Beyond sending cash to each other, Hike has also introduce a ‘blue packet’ feature that lets users gift digital envelopes of cash for special occasions, such as birthdays.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Wider, deeper VC investment needed for Indian and African mobile money firms, says Gates Foundation report
In excess of 233 million and 60 million people in India and East Africa respectively still lack formal bank accounts and 50% of small businesses don't have access to formal credit.
Financial technology (fintech) enabled firms such as M-Pesa in Kenya, which provides mobile payment, saving and credit facilities to 30 million people in East Africa, and the Paytm giant mobile m-commerce operation in India that claims 200 million users, are still the exception in terms of providing access to financial services for poor people.- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Fintech: Africa’s payments and remittances space becoming crowded
Disrupt Africa last week released its Finnovating for Africa: Exploring the African Fintech Ecosystem report, which looks at key trends in terms of the location, focus, fundraising successes and chances of acquisition of fintech start-ups. We asked Tom Jackson, co-founder of Disrupt Africa, about the report’s major takeaways.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Why mPesa will not be an instant hit in Nigeria
Having since expanded to 10 additional countries within and outside (Albania, Romania, Afghanistan and India) the African continent, mPesa has grown to a platform with over 29.5 million active customers and 287,400 agents. In 2016 alone, it processed about 6 billion transactions, at a peak rate of 529 transactions per second.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa